Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Tommy was just finishing up his night shift at the cafe he works at. There were a few people waiting for their orders but otherwise it was empty. Tommy hoped that they would be the last customers before he could close at 9 p.m. It had actually been a really busy night. He was exhausted after putting up with five different Karens, five! Normally he was only unlucky enough to have to deal with one!

Sighing as the door chimed signaling another customer. He hastily put the lids on the two drink orders he was working on and called out the names he had written on the cups. He just wanted to go home but put on his customer service smile anyway, which wasn’t the best he had been told. His boss Bad had once said it looked like he was in pain.

“Welcome to Bad’s, what can I get for you tonight?” He asked not bothering to pull out the small notepad he had as he had memorized everything after a year and a half of working there.

“Umm, can I get a triple shot espresso?” A slightly tired voice said.

Tommy finally looked up at the person ordering. The guy standing in front of him had light brown curly hair kind of like his roommate Tubbo but it wasn’t covering his eyes . He had round glasses and a yellow sweater on, it was hard to tell if the glasses were needed or if it was just for style.

“Triple shot espresso? You seem more like a hot chocolate type of guy. ”Tommy said as his filter turned off.

Tommy just waited for the ‘I want to see your manager shit’ that he always got when he made comments like that on other peoples orders. The guy stood there almost like he was in shock that he was commenting on the order and his appearance. He must have never been here before. After a second he burst out laughing.

“Your right kid, can I get a triple shot hot chocolate instead.” he said smirking.

Now it was Tommy’s turn to process what had been said. He laughed a little at the order change as he canceled and re-did it. It had been a while since he had a customer that had made him genuinely smile. But this guy did call him a kid he wasn’t a kid, he was 16 almost 17 which was basically an adult. Though all of his legal papers have him down as being 18. No one bought it so he had a fake birth certificate and a driver's license. Tubbo had made it when they all ran away from the foster system together.

“Not a kid.” Tommy deadpanned, ”Name, size and for here or to go.” He felt a little bad when the smile slipped from the others face but he did call him a kid so he let it go.
“Wilbur, small and to go.” He said all of the joking that was in his tone earlier was gone.

“$4.50.” Tommy said as he checked his watch, 8:59. Great, he was going to be home late. He turned to go make the drink shaking his head as he counted out the triple shot. If this Wilbur guy wanted to have a heart attack, who was he to stop him? He held the button down for hot chocolate when he heard a rumbling noise. Realizing too late that it was coming from the machine he was too slow to take cover as the machine just combusted. It was like something out of a movie in Tommy’s opinion. Hot water and tea spilled all over his hands and arms as he scrambled back using his colorful vocabulary.

He looked down at his hands and arms and saw that they were bright red and it looked like they were already blistering up and pain flared at the slightest bit of movement he made. He could just heal himself like he did all the other times. This was way worse than those other times but then again no one but his roommates knew about his powers.

A hand landed on his shoulder and spun him around. He was faced with the worried look on Wilbur’s face which turned into shock/panic when he saw Tommy’s arms. Wilbur dragged him over to the sink and turned it on so that it would be cold and pulled Tommy’s arms under it.

“It’s fine, it’s fine.” Tommy said after a minute pulling his aching arms back out of the water. If this guy cared enough to jump the counter and try to help, Tommy could probably live with him knowing though Tubbo wouldn’t be impressed.

“What do you mean it’s fine! You just got like 3 gallons of burning hot water dumped on you and it is already starting to blister up! You have to go to a hospital to get those looked at!” Wilbur said, panic in his voice. He fumbled for his phone.

“No no, no hospitals I will be fine, Wilbur. Just give me a few minutes.” Tommy said as he painfully reached and grabbed Wilbur’s phone from him and set it behind him on the counter. Then he started to focus his energy on his hands and arms. He felt as his powers slowly wrapped his hands and arms in a golden light then healed over the burns. A pounding headache formed between his eyes as he watched the burns fade. It was always worse when he was healing himself and not another person. The glowing light died and he stumbled to get a hold on the counter as his vision blacked out and his knees buckled.

“Wha-oh, you have healing powers.” Wilbur said as he held up a barely conscious Tommy.

“Yep, I told you a big man like myself would be fine.” Tommy said as he pushed away and stood by himself pretending that he wasn’t about to fall again. He checked the time and it read 9:20, how has it already been 20 minutes? Normally he was already done cleaning and locking the place up by now. Shit, his roommates are going to kill him…well roommate at least. Ranboo would probably try and get Tubbo to lay off or chime in once in a while.

Wilbur was looking at him funny until a phone started ringing and out of instinct they both pated their pockets to try and locate the phone. Tommy found his first and shook his head and Wilbur jumped back over the counter to retrieve his from where Tommy had pushed it to.

Wilbur answered the phone in a hushed tone. From Tommy’s spot behind the counter which was supporting him, he could only make out a few words. What…spotted…help…alley…district 8. Tommy’s phone buzzed as a message came through pulling his thoughts away, it was from Tubbo.

Bee Boi: Have you left yet
Tommy: no the coffee machine broke why
Bee Boi: Did you not get the warning
Bee Boi: There is a hero villain fight going on a block away from ur work
Tommy: what the fuck no i didn’t but i am a big man tubso
Bee Boi: Stay safe don’t do irrational things

Tommy left him on read as all thoughts of wanting to pass out mostly vanished. He went back to his phone to see if he could get more on the fight. Weirdly there was nothing, not a single thing when he searched up villain attacks and then the date. The shuffle of feet then the sound of the cafe bell ringing pulled him out of his phone.

Tommy looked up startled from his phone to see a shadow dart around the corner and out of sight. Then it dawned on him that he was now alone in the shop, oh well. It was weird, sure but he had seen even experienced weirder. Tubbo had told him not to do anything irrational or unsafe. Tommy wasn’t going to listen to Tubbo about being safe after all he was a big man.

He gathered his bag from the small mudroom that held a door to an alley which was always locked for safety. Did a quick sweep and mop of the floor and rested the broken coffee machine pieces on the counter before quickly closing and locking the door. As soon as he got outside the sounds of fighting could be heard not too far into the distance.

He started walking back to his apartment, not putting his earbuds in opting to scan the alleyways and rooftops for people. The sounds of fighting weren’t dying down as they should have the farther away he got but it sounded like it was now only the next street over. Normal people when they hear the sounds of fighting are logical and go the other direction, Tommy isn’t normal. He saw that there was an alley that led to where he assumed the fighting was. You know it isn’t everyday you get to see a hero villain fight.

Tommy checked the alley making sure that he wouldn’t get attacked by some thug by going down it. He darted down it and as he neared the end he moved very slowly, a car with a green tint around it flew through the air past the entrance of the alley and he could hear the screech of metal on cement when it landed.

So Dream the number one hero was here then which means his team was too in all rightfulness. Tommy didn't think far enough ahead to what he would do when he reached the actual fight so he just watched. Dream and Blade were facing off against each other in the middle of the road trading blows while Flame was trying to knock Zephyrus out of the sky. That still left 2 unaccounted for, Siren and 404. He shuffled forward a little bit and just barely stuck his head out of the alley so that he could see down the whole road. Siren and 404 were playing a dangerous game of tag, 404 was trying to hit Siren with one of his throwing knives while Siren was doging all of them but his reaction time was getting slower. Tommy pulled his head back into the alley as there was a blast of heat and then a crash mixed with a horrible cracking sound.

Zephyrus skidded to a stop about 10 yards away from Tommy and was smoking a little bit as Flame approached with handcuffs in his hand. Blade and Dream were still going at it either not having noticed or not caring. Flame roughly pulled the limp form of Zephyrus into a position where he handcuffed his hands together.
Tommy inches farther back into the alley not wanting to be seen. They literally had the leader of the Syndicate arrested 10 yards away from him. He should do something to help Zephyrus. Sure he was a villain and had killed people but the guy was clearly in pain from the way one of his big black wings was sticking out at a really weird angle and Tommy had never really liked the heroes to begin with. Shaking those thoughts out of his head since no good would come in him doing that as he backpedaled another foot, for once he took Tubbo’s word and ‘stayed as safe’ as he could given the position that he put himself in. He wished that that small logical part of his brain was more active but what can he do?

“Not another move, Flame.” Siren’s voice was deadly quiet but still could be heard. Siren was holding 404 at knife point, drawing a thin line of blood.
Flame turned and looked over his shoulder, physically flinching when he saw the scene in front of him. The sounds of fighting died out as Dream and Blade became aware of the situation. That's when it dawned on him that there was a choice to be made: either they arrest Zephyrus and Siren slits 404’s throat or they let Zephyrus go and get 404 back.

“Well well well, looks like there's a choice to be made. Let us go and that includes Zephyrus or little 404 here, gets it, Dream.” Siren said a smirk playing onto his face. Blade meanwhile was in a defensive position looking like he was about to kill someone and he very easily could.

Dream dragged a hand down his face, well mask. Beckoning Flame forward with Zephyrus limp form in his grasp. “Flame here will hand over Zephyrus while you hand 404 over. No one else moves a muscle.” Shooting a pointed look at Blade.

“One more thing, Dream.” Siren said with a smirk still present . In one swift motion he knocked 404 unconscious. Tommy knew that he was fast but he had underestimated Siren’s agility.

“WHA-, Flame just make the trade. You will regret doing that soon though Siren hopefully when we have you handcuffed behind bars.” Dream said glaring daggers at Siren, well Tommy assumed that he was glaring cause you don’t say a sentence like that with a smile.

Flame practically threw Zephyrus on the ground in front of Siren and a very faint crack could be heard with a 80% chance of breaking another limb.
Siren did the same thing minus the faint crack. His mouth pressed in a thin line forming a frown. Blade swiftly walked over from where he had been standing observing the deal being made and pulled one of Zephyrus’s arms over his shoulder.

Siren flipped the heroes off and the two villains walked off down the road. Dream had been crouching next to 404 and without even looking up returned the sign. Dream and flame supported 404 between them as they turned and went the opposite direction.

Tommy let out the breath that he didn’t know he had been holding and went to turn around and go back down the alley he was in, neglecting the fact that it wasn’t a dead end alley.

Tommy turned around and came face to face with something white and red blocking his path. He stumbled backwards to avoid hitting his nose even though it wouldn’t hurt for an extensive time. A hand reached down and grabbed him on the shoulder but it wasn’t in a threatening way more of a stabilizer and calming factor. That was short lived.

Blue eyes met blood red ones through a boar skull mask. Tommy froze, standing in front of him was Blade, one of the most wanted supervillains in L’Manburg. How Blade got behind him when he just watched him carry Zephyrus away is beside him.

“Oh, umm I was just leaving. Bye big man.” Tommy said then bolted before Blade had a chance to say anything.

Tommy sprinted, part of him knew it was helpless. After all it was Blade. No one and no one was able to get away if he was on your trail. He was 2 streets away from his apartment when Blade evidently caught up and basically threw him to the ground and placed a glistening sword under his chin.

“Look kid, I am tired and don’t want to have to track you down later since you saw the fight so why don’t we make this easier on both of us and just come with me.” Blade said in his normal slightly glitched monotone voice.

Tommy fucked up and he knew it.

Tommy frantically looked around to see if there just so happened to be anything he could use as a weapon. His eyes landed on the glint of metal in the moonlight. He just had to reach it without Blade noticing which would be very difficult with him glaring down watching him. Tommy needed a distraction, those vigilantes that had started hanging around looked to be a no show. So he did the next best thing and started talking.

“How the hell did you get behind me? I literally saw you walk in the opposite direction carrying Zephyrus. How is he by the way? He took a pretty hard hit from Flame not to mention hitting the ground. I considered stepping in if neither of you noticed but you did. You and Dream were trading some pretty hard hits but giving the fact that there is already blood on the sword at my neck I would say that you wo-”

“Enough!” Blade cut him off roughly. The sword lowered slightly, becoming a little less threatening.

“But I didn’t get to finish what I was saying.” Tommy pouted a little. Normally he didn’t like acting like a child since he was a Big Man but desperate times call for desperate measures.

“No.” Blade monotone again.

“Now that's just rude. What I was going to ask was, is Zephyrus in critical condition like going to die bad?” Tommy said dropping the act cause he could see it wasn’t going to work with Blade. He was also started regretting even going down the alley in the first place. Surely if he got kidnapped now Tubbo and Ranboo would miss him and report him. No they have each other now they don’t need him. Those thoughts were quickly shoved down as the sword pressed closer to his throat.
“Answer the question, kid.” Blade said stepping even closer.

“What question, dickhead? You didn’t ask anything.” Tommy said irritated that the sword was back without reason. Now calling someone with the nickname Blood God a dickhead was not the best decision since people get nicknames for a reason.

“I asked why do you care if he is dying, he's a supervillain?” Blade repeated, fixing the boar skull that acted as his mask with his free hand.

Tommy rolled his eyes at the question. “He is still a person under the whole disguise and villainy acts. He probably has friends and family that would miss him if he died or got sent to Pandora’s. Also in case you haven’t noticed, heroes aren’t exactly popular in these districts, most of the time they destroy a building or two and leave. The buildings they destroy aren’t covered by the government so they are left as rubble. So why wouldn’t I be rooting for the villains a little.” Tommy had stopped looking at the metal and was focusing on the conversation.

The sword left his throat and returned to the sheath at Blade side. A hand was offered to him and he took it rather than offending the villain by brushing it off and it was the least he could do other than saying sorry but that was probably too far fetched.

“Can I go now?” Tommy asked, inching slightly away just out of arm's reach. Not that it would do much but it was still distance between them.
Blade studied him for a moment then sighed and said, “We don’t know the condition of his wing or the burns.”

Tommy’s mind raced since he could easily, well maybe not easily but he could heal the burns and wing but he didn’t really want all his hard work for the past few years of staying under the heroes and villains radar to go to waste. It also didn’t sound like Zephyrus was going to die from the injuries. He should just go. Tubbo might actually kill him if he got sucked into the hero-villain shit.

“Oh, it’s probably a broken wing. When he hit the ground I heard it snap, splint it and make sure he doesn’t use it for 2-3 weeks. For the burns use some honey, I heard that works, wrap it so that it doesn’t get infected too.” Tommy said instead of saying that he could just heal him.
“We know how to heal broken bones and burns, though the honey trick is new. Maybe I'll try it but if it does more harm it’s your head I will be searching for. Now get out of here.” Blade said, eyes narrowing slightly.

“Okayyyy, then see ya big man.” Tommy said and backed away before Blade could change his mind. Tommy made it to his apartment before his adrenaline crashed thankfully because his hand felt like it weighed 30 pounds as he went to knock on the door. As if sensing his mere presence the door was flung open to reveal a scowling Tubbo and a fidgeting Ranboo.

“Oh, hey. Sorry about being late and all first that damn coffee machine broke and then that fight, busy night. Anyway I think I am going straight to bed, long day of dealing with Karens and all.” Tommy said before either could get a word in and practically bolted on heavy legs to his room well where they slept. He wasn’t fast enough. Tommy made it about halfway across the living room before he was intercepted by Tubbo.

“TOMMY! WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING STAYING OUT THIS LATE! It is 1 in the fucking morning. Me and Boo were worried that you might’ve gotten caught in the fight or been kidnapped or some shit! I don’t care if the fucking coffee machine breaks again, let the morning shift deal with it!” Tubbo scolded him as if he were a kid. Tommy was too tired to even argue back so he just rolled his eyes.

“Are we done here? I feel like I got hit by a train.” Tommy deadpanned to Tubbo and shot Ranboo a quick half smile.

“No, Tommy, do you even realize how close that fight was? We could see it out of our window in the near distance. I can’t risk losing another person I love (platonic like brothers don’t be weird).” Tubbo said, pushing his bangs up so that he could make direct eye contact with Tommy.

“Tubbo, you don’t have to worry about a big man like Tommy Danger Innit.” Tommy responded.

“Your middle name is literally danger.” Ranboo chimed in.

“Tubbo, next time you are foraging legal papers for us would you not make my middle name danger please. It’s lost me enough arguments. Now it’s been great but I’m going to go to sleep for a decade.” Tommy said with a slight smile.

Tommy didn’t even bother taking off his work clothes and just flopped onto the cot that they set up in the corner while a queen size bed took up most of the room and passed out. They had a rotation so that one person didn’t get stuck with the cot or couch. Though Ranboo often volunteered to sleep on the couch claiming that it fit his height better. The tall fucker was only 3 inches taller than Tommy which wasn't fair in his opinion.

Chapter Text

When Tommy woke up to go to work he had a notification from Bad about how the cafe was closed due to the coffee machine being in pieces. Huh, weird he didn’t remember that from his shift last night nope not at all. Tommy ran a hand through his hair only to find that he couldn’t and his hand was now trapped in the matted mop. He groaned and went to stand up but his leg got caught in the blanket and he promptly fell on his face. 

He stood up using the bed as support and stumbled into the bathroom. It looked like he had been thrown into a carwash minus the water. His hair was everywhere and had some dirt in it and when he looked closer he could see a thin scab on his throat, that bitch had actually cut him. 

To finish it off his nose was slightly swollen from his battle with the floor that he clearly won. Tommy jumped into the shower to try to wash the grime out of his hair only to find all the hot water had been used. Next time he saw his roommates a few choice words of his WILL be said this is a personal offense against him!

Tommy got out after a few minutes since it was too cold to stay in for an extended amount of time. That's when he got to thinking about what he was going to do. He had most of the day to do whatever he wanted. But first food. 

The last time he had eaten was yesterday’s breakfast, which was Ranboo’s leftover spaghetti. Tommy opened the fridge to find nothing. Great, he was going to the store to get a few noodle cups to last till their next paycheck. 

He threw on his favorite white and red shirt and gathered his things and left the apartment making sure to lock the door behind him. The grocery store was only about a 15 minute walk away, 10 if he cut through some alleys. It was a nice day out too. There were a few darker clouds but otherwise it was blue sky. Maybe he would go to the park and relax on a bench. 

Tommy ducked into an alley that would shorten his walk. Granted not the best idea but what's the worst that could happen in broad daylight. Though, he still didn’t want to push his luck especially with the morning he had. So he speed walked through and made it to the end with only a slightly stained shoe. 

He did not want to know what the stain was.

The store was mostly empty when he got there which was expected since most people would still be at work. He walked over to the noodle section and found the cheapest noodles he could then went to find some sauce. Just because he may or may not have accidentally lit the stove on fire while making noodles doesn’t mean he should have been banned from the kitchen.

He walked up to the counter and pulled $10 out of his pocket and handed it over to the cashier. The cashier gave him 69 cents back and he snickered and put the change in his back pocket then grabbed the bag with his food. 

Tommy had just turned to go when the window he was facing exploded and the building shook at the impact. Glass flew everywhere. Shards nicked and sliced his skin open as they flew past. A larger shard caught Tommy in the shoulder before he took cover behind a display case. He could feel the warm liquid running down his arm as pain shot through him. Tommy looked down and watched as the blood turned the glass red. 

“FUCK, shit shit shit.” He said in surprise as he refocused and put pressure on the wound in his right shoulder. 

He wasn’t going to pull the glass out, that would just make him bleed out faster. But he had to get it out before healing himself. Fuck it, he was just going to leave it, the pain wasn’t too bad. Tommy was a big man. He could make it back to his apartment and heal it there. Using his other arm and a shelf he pulled himself to his feet and took in his surroundings. 

The store was a mess, there was glass everywhere and multiple shelves were knocked over along with a fucking car halfway through the window. Wonderful. 

Tommy carefully made his way through the rubble to the sliding doors, which surprisingly still worked. Once he was outside he could see that there was yet another fight going on down the road. Why couldn’t he just catch one break?

A figure in a dark trench was standing in the middle of the road facing down the number one hero Dream. Dream was using his power to levitate a car and a dumpster behind him as if he was going to throw them, that man must really like dumpsters Tommy thought.

Tommy hid as much as he could behind the car that was in the window in an attempt to go unnoticed. For once luck was on his side and he hid still bleeding out slightly. As the fight continued it became clear on who was losing. Siren was dodging the dumpsters thrown at him slower and slower as they went from missing him by a foot to a few inches. How Dream had so many dumpsters was what Tommy wanted to know.

Dream was just taunting him at this point, prolonging the fight. Tommy felt the same conflicted feeling that he had when he watched the fight the night before. He didn’t want Siren to get arrested or even severely injured- well maybe just a tad. The guy was a prick.

The sound of metal contorting shook him out of his thoughts as he peaked around the bumper of the car to see a car door being ripped off and thrown at Siren. Siren was too slow to dodge it and it caught him square in the chest, knocking him flat on his back and pinning his arm. 

Tommy winced as the glass wound flared up and he felt the warm liquid trickle down the back of his hand. He looked down to find that it had soaked most of the front half of his white shirt. Damn it, he was going to have to bleach it later and hope that Tubbo and Ranboo don’t notice. 

Dream had started to close in on Siren who still hadn’t moved from where he landed. Tommy hoped that he would move or do something but he was probably knocked out. Again why was he concerned about a villain and Siren of all villains. 

After a minute he noticed that there weren’t any news vans or helicopters around like last time. But last time it was the middle of the night not in the middle of a work day. Speaking of that, there wasn’t anyone else around, only Tommy, Dream and Siren. They must have run when the fight broke out. Tommy watched as Dream walked up to the fallen villain and raised his sword above Siren and swiftly brought the blade down through the villain. Dream pulled the sword out, wiped Sirens blood off it and walked away as if he was just on a normal walk and didn’t murder Siren. 

Tommy was in shock; the heroes weren’t supposed to kill anyone, they were to arrest and bring them to Pandora’s Vault or jail for a trial. He never really liked heroes before but now he hated them. Siren probably had a family and friends that he won’t ever return to.

From his spot behind the car Tommy could see the shards of now stained red glass from the car door glistening in the sunlight.  He didn’t want to see it. He didn’t want to see the body in a pool of blood. Not again. Sounds of sirens could finally be heard in the distance. 

He looked down at himself at the slight golden glow coming from his hands, the glass still sticking out of his shoulder. The blood had finally stopped. Tommy used the car to stand up pausing a moment as his vision blackened. He felt like something was pulling him towards Siren’s body so that's where he went. 

Tommy knelt down next to Siren. Dream’s sword had gone through his abdomen and the blood had stained the already dark clothing. Tommy moved the car door off Siren’s trapped hand. When he moved the door he heard a very very faint groan. He had just assumed Siren was dead and didn’t even bother to check for a pulse. Tommy mentally kicked himself as he grabbed Siren’s not broken arm and felt for a pulse.

There was a faint pulse under his finger tips.  He gasped and backed up a step. Tommy could save him, Siren didn’t have to die today. 

He didn’t know it was possible for his heart to beat any faster than it already was but it did. Tommy hated how conflicted he felt after all this was Siren.  Fucking Siren. As in Co-leader/founder of the Syndicate Siren. A VILLAIN who has KILLED people and HURT people. Why was he even considering this?

Tommy could hear the police sirens getting closer maybe 2 blocks away, he had to act. Fuck it, this prick wasn’t dying today. 

Chapter Text

Tommy had almost forgotten about the glass as he pulled Siren up, throwing an arm over his shoulder. Key word almost. Having glass in your shoulder isn’t something he would recommend.

He and Siren made it to the closest alleyway and ducked around the corner just as the first police car appeared at the end of the block, lights blaring. Using the back allies and staying off the main roads, Tommy finally made it back to his apartment after what felt like forever but was only about 15 minutes. 

He sent a silent prayer that none of his neighbors saw him bring home an unconscious villain. Though not very many people can afford to stay home and not work so he probably didn't have to worry about it. His only three worries were 1. his roommates coming home early, 2. Siren wakes up, 3. They both happen. Given how his day has been going Tommy was thinking that 3 would be his doom.

After careful consideration -jk he dropped Siren on the ground and rolled him onto his back to get a better look at the wound. The bleeding had slowed but it looked like that was from the shreds of clothing clogging it. He carefully removed the shredded clothing from the hole, shit he probably had to disinfect it so that it didn’t get infected. He rushed to get the med kit from the bathroom, and on his way back he grabbed a towel to use. 

“Okay, you got this, you are a big man. The greatest, you can handle a small, very small stab wound.” He said giving himself a pep talk.

With that he pressed the towel with the hydrogen peroxide on it against the hole, wincing when Siren’s mouth twisted into a look of pain. After a minute he deemed it pretty clean removed the towel and placed his hand over the hole and a bright golden light wrapped itself around Siren’s torso slowly stitching the skin back together under his hand. 

Tommy was probably going to regret healing Siren but that was an issue for future him. His head was starting to pound but not as bad as when he had to heal his own burns but still enough for him to sway a little. The wound was healing way too slowly for how exhausted he already was. 

Darkness was clouding most of his vision now, the wound was mostly closed and not bleeding. Tommy slowly pulled his powers back and took a staggered breath as he put a hand down to steady himself. 

The thing about his healing was that no matter the wound he would get some type of headache but the severity was determined by how big the wound was. The headaches would be way worse when he heals himself and not another person which is why he doesn’t heal himself very often and just deals with the pain. 

This is why he wasn’t looking forward to healing his shoulder. When he went to the bathroom to grab painkillers he caught a glimpse of himself in the vanity mirror.  The whole right side of his shirt was stained red with blood. He should’ve passed out from blood loss by now. Look at him being an overachiever. 

Tommy grabbed a nearby hand towel and put it in his mouth. Watching in the mirror he reached up with his left hand and grabbed the shard that was protruding from his chest. In one quick motion, he yanked it out, crying out into the towel. The pain blinded him for a moment clouding his vision. The shard fell into the sink as he dropped it to steady himself against the cabinets. 

There was fresh blood dripping out of the gash as he pressed his hand against it. All he could muster up was a faint golden color that wrapped around his shoulder knitting the skin and flesh back together. Once he deemed it non-life threatening he cut his power off and let gravity have him.

He didn’t feel the impact with the floor but felt the pain centered right behind his eyes that spread in waves throughout his head, the ache of his shoulder. Tommy just wanted to close his eyes and let the pain drift away in blissful sleep but he knew he couldn’t leave Siren out in the living room. 

Using the edge of the sink he pulled himself to his feet, grabbed the painkillers, and struggled to get the lid off with how shaky his hands were. Finally, he got it open and poured 3 out into his hand, dry swallowing them. He turned the faucet on and let the water wash the blood off the shard and sink. 

Tommy went back out to the living room to clean up the medkit and any other evidence lying around. Using the wall as support he went back to the bathroom to put the items away. The towels went to the bottom of the hamper. Great, he was going to have to volunteer to do laundry this week. When he made his way out of the bathroom he didn’t even make it five steps before two hands grabbed him and pushed him against the wall. 

Tommy’s head hit the wall and his headache came back in full force. Not to mention the throb from his shoulder. The hallway was dark so he could barely make out the face in front of him, of course, they were blindfolded but he knew they could see him. 

“Where the fuck am I,” Siren said in a low almost a whisper. 

Tommy was pissed off, he had healed the guy and now he was pinning him to the wall with an arm pressed hard against his chest probably bruising. Gods, this was the last time he was going out of his way to help anyone. No good deed goes unpunished, that phrase came to mind at this moment.

“Fuck you, you fucking prick! Get off of me! This is my apartment after all! Why are you even walking right now?! You have a hole in your stomach!” Tommy slightly yelled, absolutely done with Siren and Tommy was going to fry him if the wound god forbid opened.

“Your apartment? Where is your apartment? Who are you? Wh-?” Siren trailed off as he glanced down at his stomach and used his free arm to move his trench coat out of the way. It was like Siren was running on adrenaline and hadn’t noticed that he had a hole in him. 

Siren looked back up at him and even fainter than before whispered, “ Did you look under my mask? Is that why you healed me? ”

The words hit Tommy and he felt his mind slightly cloud and before he could stop them the words came out, “No no why the fuck would I do that? That is just an overall shitty thing to do! That’s not why I fucking healed you either.” He was glad that even when he wasn’t in control of his words he still swears.

The grip on him loosened and Siren took a step back and leaned on the opposite wall facing him. Tommy took a deep breath and a minute to calm his heart down and not have a panic attack. 

“What do you want from me? No one just heals a villain without wanting something. So what is it, money, a favor, me to be in your debt.” Siren’s voice was stronger now, bitter, almost sounding resentful.

“Umm, nothing,” Tommy said, slightly confused at the change in Siren’s mood.

“You must want or need something since you saved me. No one would have saved me if they didn’t,” Siren stated as if that were fact. Sure for most but Tommy was an exception. 

“Nope, nada, I don’t want anything from you,” Tommy said as he carefully watched Siren who was less than 3 feet away. Siren shifted a little and let a gasp out.

 Tommy looked around and flipped the hall light on. When he turned, his eyes landed on Siren sliding down the wall to sit against it, hands pressing against his stomach. Tommy hurried over and pulled the hands away to see if he had bled through the bandages. A sharp intake of breath caused Tommy to look up at Siren. Siren had his head turned and was staring at Tommy, he assumed.

"What? Why are you looking at me like that? I haven't even touched the bandages yet?" Tommy said, confusion clear in his voice. 

“You just looked like someone I know. That's all. When can I leave or am I a prisoner?” Siren asked in his voice, holding a slight hint of accusation in it. 

“Oh, right about that I don’t think that you should leave given the fact that you only made it not even 15 feet before falling. But the thing is that I have roommates. Two to be exact, who would be less than thrilled about having a villain here? So hear me out, the fire escape.” Tommy said thinking on the spot, he had forgotten that there was a fire escape outside their window. How convenient. 

“You want me to sleep outside where someone could jump me or see me?” Siren looked less than amused. 

  “Well if you have a phone on you or something, call your friends. It's not like I want you to stay here. Do you have a phone on you?”

Siren patted his pockets down and pulled out a slightly cracked phone. Tommy raised an eyebrow at the phone. It looked familiar to him but he was too tired to spare it any more thought. 

Siren turned the phone on, opened his contacts, and clicked on one that said Twin Annoyance. The phone rang once, twice, three times before going to an automatic voicemail. Tommy sighed and looked like he was going to have to hide a villain after all. 

           He could probably hide him in the closet, it's not like anyone goes into there to hang up their coats. Ha, they were lucky to have something to eat. He didn’t remember the last time he had even opened that door. Hopefully, it wasn’t in bad condition and Siren could just lay on the floor. The closet was located next to the apartment door with the back wall being shared with their bedroom. 

Tommy heaved himself up and started towards the closet receiving a confused look from Siren. He swung the closet door open and was surprised that it was in better shape than he expected. There were a few boxes and a stain on one wall but one stain and a few boxes were nice. He picked up the boxes, straining slightly with his shoulder put them on the top shelf, and left the stain. 

“Siren, you can sleep in here. Just don’t touch the stain, I don’t know what it is.”

“Where is here? You forget that I am still on the ground in the hallway and I swear to god if you are standing next to the fire escape when I get out there you will be below said fire escape.”

“Just be glad that you’re still alive, prick. Get your ass over here so I can get you set up before my roommates get home.” 

“Finnneee, it hurts thoughhhh.”

“Suck it up, bitch.”

Tommy looked around the apartment and decided on his blanket because it was warm out and he would have Tubbo’s and Ranboo’s body heat if he needed it. If the two wondered where it went he could just say that he couldn’t find it and that he would look tomorrow. 

He grabbed the blanket and a bottle of water before he went back and dropped it off with Siren.

“My roommates are going to be home soon and will be home all night and sometime in the morning before they go to work. Do not make any noise, not a peep. Otherwise, you will sleep on the fire escape.”

“But wh-”

“I don’t care, don’t leave unless I say you can. Just go to sleep, time flies when you sleep.” Tommy rolled his eyes and shut the closet door with a wave. 

Tommy brushed his teeth and then jumped into bed even though it wasn’t very late. He just didn’t have anything else to do. His main reason was if he was asleep then they wouldn’t bother him about his day and he could get up and do collateral if they found Siren in the morning. 

Tommy was startled awake by a body flopping on top of him and casually elbowing him. “Whhatt, I am trying tooo sleepppp here.”

“But it’s only 10 and normally you’re awake for another hour or 2 so why are you sleeping?” 

“Because I want to.”

“Well, I want to eat and not have to constantly worry about rent so it looks like we both aren’t getting what we want. So get up and watch TV with me and boo.”

“But Tubbooo, I am sleeping for once and you're trying to get me to stay up and watch TV. Not going to happen. You’re going to have to physically drag out there.” Tommy said, waking up a little.

Hands grabbed his ankle and before Tommy could brace himself, he was dragged out of bed and onto the floor for the second time today. He then was dragged out of the bedroom and dumped on the slightly stained couch right next to Ranboo. Tubbo flopped down on Tommy’s other side, sandwiching him in the middle.

“Tubbo what the fuck, did you know that the ground hurts to land on? Because it does, did you really have to do that?” Tommy stifled a groan and resisted the urge to hold his shoulder. Hopefully, it wasn’t bleeding.

Tubbo flipped Tommy off, grabbed the remote control, and put on a documentary about bees. The trio mostly watches animal documentaries because that's what is on the channels. Ranboo loves watching ones about cats, Tubbo loves bee ones and Tommy prefers raccoon ones aka trash pandas. 

The documentary paused as an emergency news report flashed across the screen.

“The supervillain known as Siren has been reported dead by the superhero Dream. They are advising low travel and to stay safe as the rest of the Syndicate is still out there.”

“SIRENS FUCKING DEAD! HOLY SHIT!” Tubbo screamed right in Tommy’s ear as he flinched away.

“There is no way that he is actually dead. What the hell happened?” Ranboo said quieter than Tubbo.

After Tubbo shook Tommy out of his shock by yelling Tommy slipped a side glance at the closet, not that the others knew that Siren was very much alive and just behind the door.  The bee documentary resumed playing. 

“I have to go to bed.” Tommy blatantly said and got up, slightly pushing Tubbo off him. 

Tubbo and Ranboo shared a look then Tubbo asked, “Why, are you avoiding us? What is going on?”

“Why do you think I am avoiding you, why can’t I just sleep when I want to, when you know I can barely even sleep as it is?” Tommy said agitated at the accusation even though that was partly true. 

“I don’t know maybe because you were in bed when we got home and you are just acting off. Not to mention how pale you are,” Tubbo sharply responded.

Tubbo may be a head shorter than Tommy but he sure as hell is intimidating when he wants to be. The first time Tommy pissed Tubbo off he had used a pin to poke a few small holes in the bottoms of an old pair of shoes so when Tommy used them next while it was raining his feet were soaked. 

After that, Tommy tried his best to stay on the good side of Tubbo but had recently been creeping over to the bad side.

“ME? Acting off, who would have thought that would happen when I am TIRED and TRYING to get some SLEEP? And I’m not the only one acting off, you and Ranboo have also been acting weird, working later and later, not coming home till around 2-3 in the morning, and don’t think that I haven’t noticed how you two are having secret eye conversations now.” Tommy snapped back, deflecting away from him being pale. 

Tubbo just glared at Tommy as he stood up pulling Ranboo with him and called over his shoulder. 

“You get the couch tonight, me and Boo get the bed.” 

Tommy muttered a few curse words under his breath and made his way over to the closet to do one last check on Siren before he went to bed for the 2nd time. He opened the door only to have to duck as a fist shot through the opening. 

“What was that for bitch!” Tommy whispered. 

“I didn’t know if it was you or your roommate.”

“I was going to see if you needed anything but you can suffer instead, prick,” Tommy shut the door in his face and flopped down onto the couch. He set an alarm early to make sure he was up when Ranboo and Tubbo woke up.

Chapter Text

His day started out much like yesterday with him waking up on the floor. Apparently he had unknowingly rolled off the couch at some point in the night. The song 'Jump in the Cadillac' by Bruno Mars was playing, signaling that his alarm was going off. 

God he hated that song but it woke him up no matter what. He made a video singing to it once, he shivered at the memory. Tubbo never let him forget about it. Never.

Tubbo appeared coming out of the bathroom, hair still dripping wet. Tommy stretched and stood up, glancing at the closet before turning his attention to Tubbo. It seemed as if they didn’t have a fight last night, and Tommy was completely fine with ignoring it. 

“What do you want for breakfast?”

“Do we even have anything?”

“Uhh, maybe?” Tommy went over to check the fridge only to find, guess what, fucking nothing. 

“Fuck, how long till the next check?”

“Ranboo and I get paid on Monday and you get paid on Saturday so today and tomorrow without food should be fine.”

Tubbo went and woke Ranboo up and after 30 minutes were out the door. Tommy waited a few minutes to see if they came back because they forgot something but they never did. So he opened up the closet and was met with a still sleeping Siren. He decided to let the dude sleep. To pass the time he tried to turn on a documentary about raccoons but no channels had one. They were all about anteaters. Why did those things even exist? They are horrendous. 

Tommy fell down the rabbit hole that is watching tv and the next time he checked the time it was already noon. Siren still hadn’t woken up or if he had woken up he hadn't alerted Tommy. The closet door was still slightly open from when he had checked earlier. 

As he pulled the door open more to look in he noticed that Siren had shifted his position a little to where his mask was slightly higher than normal. Tommy nudged Siren with his foot when he got no reaction he bent down to shake his shoulders. Siren tensed up in his hands so Tommy dropped his shoulders and stepped back a little. 

“Whaat you want,” Siren said his words slightly slurred. 

“To get you out of my house and get you back with your teammates. Cuz last I checked they think you’re dead.”

“Oh shit. He might actually craft a belt this time.”

“What-”

“Don’t ask.”

Siren reached up and adjusted his mask before standing up and leaning on the door. His outfit was still covered in blood and torn, that couldn’t be sanitary. Tommy turned around and went back to the bedroom and shifted through a pile of clothes that hadn’t been worn for a while. He found a pair of blue jeans with only a hole on the knee of the right leg and a plain black T-shirt that only had a single hole. 

When he returned Siren was sitting on the couch watching the news. Tommy tossed the outfit at him and got him in the face with the shirt.

“What is this?”

“A shirt and jeans.”

“No shit, but what for?”

“To wear.”

Siren let out an exasperated sigh, “But why are you giving these to me?”

“To wear, prick.”

“You know what nevermind. Do you have another mask I could wear?” Siren said about done with Tommy. 

“Uhh, let me go look. Bathroom is down the hall.” Tommy said snickering.

Tommy shuffled around the apartment looking for something that would cover Sirens eyes or lower face if it came to it. He went into his bedroom and found a discarded pair of sunglasses and one of Ranboo’s old masks. 

When he stepped out of the room he saw that Siren was leaning against one of the hallway walls in the new change of clothes. Tommy handed over his findings, wanting Siren out of his home. Siren was just standing there looking at him.

“Uhh, can you turn around?”

Tommy spun on his heels not bothering to respond. There was a shuffle of cloth before he felt a tap on his shoulder. Turning around he let out a laugh at how stupid Siren looked in the ratty clothes and cheap sunglasses. Siren shook his head and crossed his arms against his chest and pretended to pout. 

After a minute Siren started to laugh too but the sound was slightly muffled from the mask. They settled down a little while later and Tommy went to grab a bag to throw the villain’s clothes in. Granted it was just a plastic grocery bag but it works. 

“Villains Zephyrus and Blade spotted in downtown Manburg near Hero HQ. Zephyrus looks to have injuries from the fight a few days ago while Blade doesn’t have any. We recommend not going in the area and letting the heroes handle it.”

“Siren, you might want to go tell your teammates you're still alive cuz they’re about to storm Hero HQ and probably lose since it is 2 versus however many heroes are there.”

“THEY ARE DOING WHAT???” Siren shouted, stomping into the room. 

Tommy gestured at the tv where it showed a video of Blade and Zephyrus standing a block away from Hero HQ. 

“I can’t go like this! I don’t even have a proper mask!”

“Go change back into your villain outfit, it will show better if you look like you just got up from where Dream left you. It will also take away some suspicion that someone helped you.”

Siren grumbled all the way to the bathroom and even when the door closed Tommy could still hear him complaining. He waited for Siren to come back out to double check the wound. He hoped that it was decently healed but seemed bad to the public. 

Siren came out in his outfit, the hole clearly visible with the dark blood stained cloth resting against the white bandages. Tommy unwrapped the bandages revealing what looked like a small stab wound that was bruised and red. With the bandages off it was harder to notice the hole since the bruised skin blended in. Perfect, well as perfect as he was going to get it.

“Hmm, now get out of my apartment, prick.” 

“Wht just like that and i’m kicked out?” Siren frowned.

“Get out, bitch.”

Siren left through the fire escape to prevent civilians from seeing him leave the building. Tommy cleaned up any evidence that was left. The tv was still playing in the background, not that he was paying attention. Just getting snippets of the conversation. Apparently Siren made a dramatic entrance and ended the fight and the Syndicate escaped. 

Dream had been interviewed after the fight, mostly being questioned about reporting that Siren was dead but that he showed up and was clearly alive. In the interview he claimed that he had been in a fight and Siren had lost his footing and fallen off an apartment building and claimed that the height was enough to kill and had assumed him dead. 

“Fucking lying ass bitch.” He muttered.

Tubbo and Ranboo came home at their normal time for once. Ranboo made supper which consisted of spaghetti and hotdog buns. Tommy wasn’t going to argue since it was actually pretty good, not that he told Ranboo that. Tubbo went to work on his modified computer that was certainly illegal with what he had added to it. 

As far as Tommy knew, both Ranboo and Tubbo were part of that low percent of unpowered. Tommy had developed his way later than most people do, the common age is 10-11 and he developed them at 14. Both his roommates knew about them because they had been with him when he got them. 

Up until that day they assumed that they were all unpowered and grew closer and closer together forming a little promise to each other, 'us against the world'. They all met at a group home after being considered too troublesome for a foster house. 

Tommy grabbed the cot before the others protested and made him sleep on the couch. He replayed the past events in his head and he doesn't regret watching the fight, healing Siren. Well maybe he does regret that Siren is a pussy and should have just been better and not get stabbed in the first place.

This led him to his next moral crisis, what if it had been Dream on the ground and not Siren? Would he still have helped or left him to die? He hated how conflicted he felt at that thought. 

“Oi, Tommy. Why are there blankets and pillows in the closet?” Tubbo shouted at him from across the apartment.

“Storage?” He scolded himself for saying that since they used those blankets every few nights and wouldn’t need to put them away. Tommy got up and saw Tubbo standing at the open closet and winced. All he could think about was what if Tubbo had opened that last night and found Siren. 

“Mmhhm, sure Tommy? Why are they really there?” Tubbo said, turning and fully facing him. 

Well he was screwed. 

“Storage. I was cleaning and decided to put them away and the bedroom was full so I threw them in there. Honestly!” Tommy said, rambling on. Slightly avoiding eye contact in favor of looking at a stain on the wall. 

“When people lie they either avoid eye contact or over explain their story. Also I know for a fact that it didn't have blood on it a few nights ago and none of us have gotten hurt in that time. So tell me Tommy who’s blood is that?”

Tommy needed a new explanation and fast, that's when it came to him. What if he claimed that it was a stray cat that he picked up, yup that's what he is going to say. It's even slightly true since Siren is a pussy.

“Haha, so funny story about that.” Tommy said looking for a quick escape route out of the apartment in case he needed it. “I found a stray cat that was bleeding and brought it home and didn’t know how to tell you so I didn’t and I figured it would be fine since it was a cat.”

Tubbo’s eyes narrowed at him and he shook his head. 

“Fine, where is this cat now? And next time just tell us.”

“I let it go this afternoon, and yeah I know.” Tommy acted slightly defeated but on the inside he was celebrating. “I’m going to bed. I have the morning shift tomorrow for the first time in a few months and then I get the afternoon off but then work the night shift.”

“Alright Tommy, goodnight. Me and Boo are working the night shift too so won’t be home till late.” 

His morning shift was uneventful, not a single Karen incident surprisingly. When he got home he went and washed all the blankets that Siren had used and made sure to scrub most everything in fear that a single bloody fingerprint would be found. But hey at least he didn’t need his escape route yet. 

As he cleaned he got wrapped up in thinking about what he did. As he knows best that no good action goes unpunished. So what would be the consequence of healing Siren? Deep down he knew that he was involved in the hero/villain world now even against his best wishes. He did it to himself. 

Dream would now be very suspicious since Siren was 1) still alive 2) was very much healed from the last encounter. The only other thing that's not healing powers that might be able to help him would probably be healing or regen potions. Even those were strictly for hero use and very expensive.

Tommy was going to have to be extra careful with his power use now that Dream would be looking. Shit, Wilbur knew about them. What if he turned Tommy in? Hell what if he worked for the hero’s! He literally revealed his biggest secret to a random stranger that he might not even see again. That realization hurt him a tad not that he would admit it. 

He hadn’t realized that he zoned out till his alarm went off snapping him back to reality and reminding him that he had to work in a half hour. 

The walk was either 5-10 minutes, it really depended on the mood he was in that day. The 5 minute option included dodging cars and dark alleys and the 10 included crosswalks and well lit roads. After checking the clock he chose the 10 minutes route since he had time. 

The walk was peaceful, there was a slight breeze blowing his fluffy blond hair around. Most of his shift went by just like his morning shift, boring and uneventful. He was cleaning up spilled cup of coffee when the door opened and in walked the pretentious fuck, Wilbur. Like who the fuck names their kid ‘Wilbur’.

Tommy finished cleaning and went to the register to talk to Wilbur.

“You gonna run out on me again?”

Wilbur scratched the back of his neck and had at least some decency to act embarrassed. Was that the right word to describe it? Tommy didn’t know so he dropped it since the past is in the past.

“You should see your face man but what can I get for you?”

“Haha, uhh can I do a triple shot espresso or are you going to change it to a hot chocolate?”

“Nope, you can have your death coffee as long as you don’t sue us when you inevitably die from it.”

“Well aren’t you a ray of sunshine today.”

“That's right bitch a ray of fucking sunshine.”

Wilbur chuckled and paid for his drink. The two chatted a while before Wilbur got a text and had to go. Claiming that he got called into work. Tommy wondered where he worked. Why was Wilbur getting called in this late at night but he didn't bother asking. Wilbur also favored the question of anything out of the ordinary happen recently? He said it like he knew something happened but just like where Wilbur worked Tommy didn't question him about it. 

The rest of the shift went slow with no customers. He put his earbuds in and started playing his favorite song from the band Lovejoy though Able Sisters  was pretty close.

Tommy’s shift came to an abrupt end when the bell chimed and two people walked in, well one walked the other was carried. The one that was carrying the other was very tall, taller than him which was an insult. They seemed to be around Ranboo's height, maybe a little taller, wearing a loose fitting black suit presumably for movement and black combat boots, and fingerless gloves. Their face was covered by a half black and half white mask along with what seemed to be a pure black masquerade mask. They had light brown hair that was damp from sweat. 

The one that was being carried was short and was wearing a brown combat jacket with nuclear patches sewn into it, black pants and brown combat boots. Their face was covered by a matching brown gas mask with the same nuclear patch painted on and goggles. Dark brown hair was plastered to his forehead. 

They were the vigilantes Nuke and Ender. First the Syndicate and now Nuke and Ender could this week get any worse, scratch that it probably could. 

Ender set Nuke down on one of the booths and seemed to finally notice Tommy watching him. Yet again the conflicting feelings arose, should he help or tell them to get out. He groaned as he jumped the counter. (Why couldn’t they use the entrance like normal people) 

“So what happened to him?” Tommy said as he approached Ender, throwing caution to the wind.

“You're not going to freak out and call the cops?” Ender said, tilting his head in a questioning way.

“Nope, you aren’t doing anything to hurt anyone so I see no point. Plus your friend is unconscious.” 

Tommy stepped past Ender to get a good look at Nuke to find why the vigilante was out cold. Someone was shouting outside the cafe drawing his attention away to see why they were yelling. He stepped up to the door and stuck his head out and saw a police cruiser turning onto the street and there was a shadow moving on the roofs across from him. 

“Go to the backroom now. Don’t make a sound.” Tommy said as he flipped the sign to say CLOSED even if that might be suspicious since the sign said they should be open for another 5 minutes and were just clearly open but he didn’t care.

Ender grabbed Nuke bridal style and rushed to the backroom while Tommy grabbed the broom to make it look like he was just cleaning/closing the store. After all, everything was about appearances. 

After a minute or 2 of sweeping he thought that no one was going to come in or had already driven by and deemed the cafe unsuspicious. He was wrong, the bell chimed and the door swung open. Standing in all teletubby glory was the fucker Dream. He played the fan card. He knew how to play many different cards.

“Holy shit! Your Dream the number one hero! I never thought I would ever get to meet you in person. I know it says we are closed but do you want coffee? I am your biggest fan!” Tommy said with enthusiasm and excitement in his voice. 

Tommy was not a fan and wanted to vomit or curse Dream out, maybe both. 

Dream looked surprised to say the least. Tommy watched as Dream's body language changed from tense and on alert to more relaxed but still on alert. Dream dragged a hand down the front of his mask as he let out an exasperated sigh. 

“No, I just wanted to ask if you have seen the vigilantes known as Nuke and Ender tonight or heard anything about them? I know that they are often seen around here.”

Tommy took a few seconds pretending to be thinking about the past few hours and shook his head pretending to be sorrowful that he couldn’t be of help. 

“Sorry Dream, I wish I could have been more help but I haven’t heard anything about them.” 

“That’s alright kid, just if you see anything make sure to call it in.” With a nod, Dream disappeared back out the door. 

To say that Tommy was confused was an understatement. While Dream was fighting Siren he seemed like a ruthless bastard that didn’t care about anything other than killing Siren but here he seemed almost considerate to him but still held a dangerous air.

Ender stuck his head out of the backroom, and pulled him out of his thoughts. Right Nuke was still hurt. Tommy put the broom to the side and hurried towards Ender. Nuke was laid out on the floor still unconscious.

“What's wrong with him?”

“We were minding our own business sitting on a roof when Dream came out of nowhere and attacked us. He attacked Nuke first from behind, more like just pushed him off the building and then pinned me down so I couldn’t teleport to save him. I heard the sound of him hitting the ground and freaked out and threw Dream off me. Then teleported down to where I thought he fell and ran here.”

“So what you're saying is that the teletubby pushed him off a roof then attacked you so that you had to hear your partner's body hit the ground then you casually came in here to ask for help from a random barista?”

“Yup, can you help him?”

Tommy side-eyed him and looked down at Nuke who looked fine just unconscious minus the hair plastered to his forehead. 

“Ughhh, Yeah I can, how tall was the building and what do you think took the blunt of the impact?”

“3 or 4 stories and I think he landed on his left side since that is what he was laying on when I found him.”

“Alright, can I take off his jacket?”

“Yeah and his shirt if you need to. Him being well is worth having to get a new shirt.”

“Do you want to do that so I don’t accidentally see his face when taking the shirt off?”

Tommy went back out to the main area of the cafe to grab a glass of water having a feeling that he would need it later. Then started to mentally prepare himself for the upcoming healing. He seemed to be doing a lot of mental preparation recently. At least someone needed him. 

A soft “ready” was heard from behind the door and he went back into the room. Nuke had his jacket and shirt off clearly displaying a pattern of various color bruises wrapping around his torso and left shoulder/arm. Nukes mask was secured on his face though Tommy could see bruises forming on the left side of his face and a bump on his head. 

He shook his arms out and took a deep breath before drawing his powers out and pressing his hands to Nukes stomach and golden bright light slowly wrapped around Nukes left side and stretched up to his head. The light wrapped around him like a blanket and Tommy could feel ribs shifting back into place under his hands as Nukes breathing evened out and became less ragged. The bump and bruising going away completely. 

Tommy felt a headache starting but definitely not as bad as healing Siren so he continued till all the bruising had faded. He pulled his power back and felt it dissipate across his own skin, that was new. Maybe he had been too tired to notice last time, that was probably it.

Ender had been standing off to the side the whole time not daring to touch Nuke as the healing was going on in fear of messing up the healing process. 

“Can you hand me the glass of water and he should be all healed.” Tommy said motioning to the glass of water that sat just out of his reach. It's like a reward.

“Thank you Tommy we will get out of your hair, we owe you one.” Ender said as he hauled Nuke back into his arms and started to leave. 

“Forget the favor or whatever you want to call it, you don’t owe me anything just don’t spread it around.” 

“What? You don’t want a favor?” Confusion laced Enders tone.

“Nope, just try and keep me out of your activities but if you need help like deaths doormat then come here.”

Ender nodded and left through the backdoor that led out into an alleyway. Now all he had to do was actually clean and close the cafe and then he was going home. You know the saying time flies when having fun well time didn’t fly and he wasn’t having fun. 

His head was killing him and he had the last painkiller this morning to stop the headache from healing Siren but noo Nuke just had to go and get pushed off a roof. That sparked a new question, how did Ender know he could help Nuke and why wasn't he more surprised?

Tommy made quick work of cleaning up the cafe and actually closing. He left out the back door and walked down the alley making his way home. What he neglected to see was the figure on the roof across the street from him.

When he got to his apartment the door was unlocked that spiked his suspension but soon found that his friends were home. Ranboo was sitting on the couch and Tubbo was asleep in the other room. 

“Hey Ranboob, how was your day?”

“That's not my name Tommy. The day was good, tiring though. Yours?”

“Headache inducing. Are you sleeping out here or joining Tubbo?”

“I think I will join Tubbo tonight.”

“Alright g’night boob boy.

“How many times do I have to tell you to stop calling me that?”

“As many times I call you that. I will never stop Ranboob.”

Chapter Text

Reading this for the first time=directly to the story!

Returning and missed the update? Basically the part about Tommy and Siren getting Noodles gone, erased, not cannon. That whole chapter was deleted. First part is the same but with a few changes if it seems like you read it before.

Happy reading <3

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A few weeks passed without an incident which was an uncommon occurrence. Tommy continued to work at the cafe, dealing with Karens and entitled shit heads. Money had gotten slightly tighter as food prices went up in the low districts due to some issue in Hermit city. Some areas went as districts and other did cities, the top districts (1-3) were referred to as L’manburg and the lowers (4-9) were referred to as Pogtopia.

On the villain/hero side of things there had been fights here and there but nothing too major like the calm before a storm. Zephyrus was back, wing good as new, Nuke and Ender were getting credit for their hard work. Which isn’t necessarily a good thing in this world. The heroes were busy trying to stop them from doing nothing but good in this harsh world.

Tommy’s relationship with Tubbo and Ranboo had gotten slightly worse as he could still tell that they were still hiding something from him. Tommy had just walked into the cafe to start his shift and was greeted by Bad and Skeppy. 

“Hey Tommy! Do you think that you can manage this shift by yourself? Me and Bad wanted to go and get supper with a few friends.”

“Yeah, I can handle it, I am a big man! Go enjoy your date!” Tommy said, teasing the pair.

“Tommy, for the last time we’re not dating, how many times are you going to make that joke? Plus there are going to be others there. Also if anything happens give me a call. Bye!” Skeppy and Bad left with a final wave and the ding of the bell. 

Tommy was expecting a slow shift that he could handle and it was that give or take. There was a spill here and there but that was all the excitement he saw. At one point he considered leaving the coffee and seeing who slips on it but he knew it would have been him. 

His shift dragged to a close soon enough and he started doing his closing routine. Which was just him tuning the world out with his earbuds as he mops and sweeps the floor. He started his playlist up on shuffle.

The only guy she’ll see tonight

You can call me what you like

As long as you call me

And you kiss the skin from my lips

If it makes you feel goood

“TOMMY, TOMMY!”

Who the fuck just interupted him while he was busy ignoring the world. Oh, Bad and Skeppy were back. 

“How was your date?” He said teasing, with an eyebrow up.

Bad let out an exasperated sigh, “It wasn’t a date Tommy!”

“Sure and I have two living parents.”

Skeppy gasped and tried to hold back a laugh but Bad just looked tired. At least one of them had good humor. 

“Making jokes isn’t a healthy way to cope with things like that, Tommy.”

“Yeah, so neither is being in denial.”

“Huh? Denial?”

“Skeppy look he doesn’t even know he is in denial at least I know my problems.”

“What the muffin are you saying?”

“You’re in denial of yours and Skeppy’s date night and don’t even know it.”

“Yeah Bad it really is sad.” Skeppy said joining in.

“WHat Skeppy! You're supposed to be on my side!”

“Because we are dating?” 

“WHAT NO SKEPPY!”

On that note Tommy snuck out the back and left before Bad could get back to lecturing him about healthy coping mechanisms. Outside was slightly cooler than when he arrived but it still was nice. He made sure to stay under the streetlights as he walked and stayed on the far side of the sidewalk when passing alleys. 

He didn’t want to end up on one of those unsolved murder shows, well not yet at least. On second thought maybe he did.  

No sooner than that thought crossed his mind, a hand reached out from the alley and grabbed the back of his sweatshirt. Before he knew it he was being pressed against a brick wall with an arm against his back.

“Give me all your shit.”

“Bitch you are trying to rob a teenager in Pogtopia. How desperate do you have to be to stoop that low? Holy shit.”

“Shut up kid. Do you want this knife in your neck?”

Now that stirred up his thoughts, ‘No one needs you, no one will miss you, you are worthless, you’re a waste of space.’ He shook his head with the small space he was given.

“Now empty your pockets, and don’t make a sound. If you do then well, I have no issues with killing a teenager.” He said with an unnerving chuckle. 

Now Tommy didn’t give a shit about what was in his pockets that being gum wrappers and pocket lint. What he was more scared about was the guy's reaction when he found that’s all he had on him. 

Tommy turned his pockets inside out and let the wrappers fall to the ground and reflected off the little light seeping into the alley.

“THAT'S ALL YOU HAVE?”

‘ Shit now he was pissed ’’

“What did you think I would have? A $100 or gold? That's your mistake dude, i’m just as broke as everyone else here.”

He should have kept his mouth shut.

“Shut up! Well then I guess that you will have to give me something else.” Tommy did NOT like his tone. 

He started to struggle against the weight and managed to put some distance between him and the wall. He pulled his feet up and kicked off the wall while simultaneously forcing all his weight against his attacker. The sense of falling enveloped him but that soon ended as his fall was cushioned by the attacker. 

' Since when could he do that? '

The attacker’s head made a low thud as it connected with the ground. His grip loosened on Tommy. Tommy pushed himself off the guy and onto his feet. He stood there watching the guy for a solid minute contemplating life or maybe it was shock before leaving.

The second half of his walk he walked on the far side of the sidewalk at a fast pace. No need to tempt fate anymore than he already had..

“Guys! I’m home!” He shouted as he swung the door open but was met with silence.

“Guys? Uhh HELLO?”(tommy’s iconic hello)

“And they get mad if i’m home late,” Tommy muttered going to the bathroom, “fuckers.”

He jumped in the shower feeling the need to scrub off the feelings of the guys arms that pinned him to the wall. The shower was turned up to the hottest he could stand. He knew he couldn’t be in there long due to the water bill. The feeling of the water hitting his back dispersed the other uncomfortable one. 

Once it was gone he got out and was ready to sleep. Tubbo and Ranboo hadn’t come home yet and that concerned Tommy. 

Tommy: where r u guys its late

Bee boi: Be home soon

Tommy: what r u doing

Bee boi:*read*

Oh so it's unacceptable when Tommy leaves Tubbo on read but Tubbo can leave him on read. Fine then if Tubbo is leaving him on read then he’s not waiting up for them. Plus he gets the bed again.

—-----

Tommy is going to commit murder and it just might happen to be the pretentious fucker in front of him.

1. It is 8 in the morning.
2. Tommy is sore as shit from last night and hardly slept.
3. Wilbitch had no right to order a black coffee with 5 shots at this time.

Tommy was glad that Wilbur still came around the cafe though he had noticed that on more than one occasion he had come in with a slight limp or his breath caught at odd moments. After living in Pogtopia all his life he picked up on reading people. It was a very important skill. 

Tommy hated seeing him hurt and wanted to ask and/or offer to heal Wilbur every time he noticed but never found the chance to between there being another customer or worried about being nosy. 

Today was one of those days so he could excuse the black coffee with 5 shots at 8am. The morning rush had already passed leaving only a few people sitting at tables with books or computers out. 

Wilbur stood in front of him with his shoulders curled in like there was something heavy wieghing on his shoulders, eye bags and leaning more to the right. (Wilburs left) To anyone else it would have looked normal but Tommy knew that wasn’t the case. If the eye bags didn’t give it away it was the leaning. 

Tommy definally wasn’t going to say anything out loud so he decided to write it on the cup. That way if he did need help he could do it discreetly and if not just ignore it. He had many ways to ask but chose to write, are you hurt? I can help.

With that he shouted while making eye contact with Wilbur, “5 shot black coffee for uhh Wilboot?”

“It's Wilbur you know that you gremlin.”

“Then why do you respond to it.”

“You were making eye contact with me as you said it.”

Tommy was known for writing things on his cup so it was no surprise that the first thing Wilbur did when grabbing the cup was to spin it around to read the scribbled note. Wilburs head shot up and locked eye contact with Tommy as his other hand moved to hover near his left side. 

“Uhh, it’s fine. You don’t have to heal it.” Wilbur responded in a very low whisper so low that had Tommy not been watching him he wouldn’t have heard.

The bell rang and Tommy looked over and it wasn’t someone coming in but leaving, that left the cafe empty besides them. 

“I hate seeing you come in favoring a side, limping, and just looking exhausted. I hate myself everytime you walk out that door hurt when I could have done something. You might not care as I only make your coffee but you know my biggest secret. I consider you a friend because I don’t want a rando knowing my secret. I care about your wellbeing, if you're struggling mentally or physically.” Tommy blurted out once he knew they were alone, surprising himself(not in a weird way). 

Wilbur was silent for a minute looking lost for words before a smile crept onto his face.

"I'm sorry, you probably don't feel the same and I look stupid. If you think your fine and don't need help. Feel free to continue your day and forget what I said." Tommy was panicking. 'Why did he have to say that? Why did he go and ruin this friendship?'

“Toms, I didn’t know you care about me. :)”

“Did you just fucking type smile at me dickhead.” 

“No :)”

“YES YOU DID! YOU JUST DID IT AGAIN!”  

“No Tommy, I think you are just delusional.” 

“Says you, you literally come in here injured like twice a week.” 

“ No, I don’t toms. Are you sure you're not delusional?” 

“Wilbur Soot Minecraft I am NOT delusional” 

“Soot minecraft?”

“Just felt right to be your name. I don’t know. If I am so delusional then lift both your arms up and stretch.” Tommy smirked knowing he won the argument.

“Uh, sure.” Wilbur said in a unsure voice.

With that Wilbur lifted his right arm up and then slowly stretched his left arm up. Wilburs face twisted into a grimace once it made it about halfway up and Tommy stopped him. 

“I told you, now you're coming to the break room and I am healing whatever you did.” Tommy said not leaving room for an answer before he started walking. 

“Wait, Tommy!” Wilbur huffed out before moving to stop him. 

Tommy flinched as a hand landed on his shoulder. The hand quickly retracted and the footsteps following him also ceased. Tommy turned around and saw that Wilbur was staring at his hand. 

“Uh Wil? You good there mate?”

“You flinched. You flinched when I touched your shoulder.”

Tommy sighed he really didn’t feel like revealing part of his past at the moment, but the look of horror on Wilburs face prompted him to.

“Look it wasn’t you, ok? It’s just that I had a rough childhood and just had a recent mugging happen so I am still on edge.” Tommy hoped that was enough explanation and the recent mugging distracted from his childhood.

Wilbur looked up questions in his gaze but all he said was, “Ok.”

Tommy continued to the backrooms, where he pulled out the First Aid kit and a bottle of water out of the fridge. He motioned for Wilbur to sit down on the chair that was in there. Wilbur sat down and didn’t move.

“Well are you going to let me see this wound?”

That snapped Wilbur out of his daze. “Why would I lift my shirt up around a minor? Who do you take me for a perv?”

“Andddd you made it weird congrats. Have fun walking around with whatever it is. :)” Tommy said, and to further his point started putting things back into the kit. 

“HOW THE HELL DID YOU LEARN TO DO THAT SO QUICKLY!” Wilbur shouted after Tommy type smiled at him. “Actually please heal me, it hurts a lot. I think the painkillers are wearing off. I didn’t mean to make it weird.”

“Magic. Lets see what you got yourself into.” Que Tommy jazz hands as he says magic.

Wilbur lifted up his shirt to reveal a bandaged abdomen that had a pink spot. Tommy made quick work taking the bandages off as Wilbur sat still watching him carefully. 

The bandages dropped away and an inflamed hole made itself known. Tommy sucked in a breath and looked up at Wilbur. 

“Is that a bullet wound?”

Wilbur looked down and let out a long sigh, “Yes?”

“How are you unsure if it's a bullet wound? Is the bullet still in there? I’m not seeing an exit area.” Tommy looked concerned.

“Itsstillinthere” Wilbur muttered not meeting Tommy’s eyes.

“Huh?”

Wilbur dragged a hand over his face before continuing, “It’s still in there.”

“WHAT! So you're telling me that you thought it was a good idea to come get coffee with not only a bullet wound but an infected one WITH THE BULLET STILL IN IT! Does your family even know?” Tommy practically yelled at him. “I’m not going to ask how this happened, only that you come to me next time or even better yet a hospital.”

Wilbur sheepishly scratched his neck avoiding eye contact. “Yes? I mean it’s not like I can go to a hospital and I couldn’t pull it out myself, I tried. And no they don’t know.” 

“You're an idiot, an actual idiot.” As he said that the faint sound of the bell echoed into the backroom. 

“SHIT! I forgot we are still open. Uhh, you should be fine you lasted this long. Try not to move though, just in case. Be back as soon as possible.” Tommy said as he hurried out the front.

“Hello, what can I get for you today!” Tommy put on a fake smile, hopefully this is fast. The man in front of him had long pink hair and again was fucking taller than Tommy. He also noted that the man had a strong build. (Not really buff but you know that they are still strong.) Tommy had a weird feeling around the guy like he had met him before and it didn't go well. 

“I’m looking for my brother.” The man said in the most monotone voice Tommy had ever heard. 

“Wow, ok. Straight to the point.” Tommy noticed the way he slightly shifted his feet every few seconds and that one of his hands was just barely tapping the side of his leg. Which meant he was either impatient or anxious. Tommys bet was anxious.

“He said he was getting coffee from here and that it would only take like 15 minutes. It’s been an hour.” 

“What does your brother look like or his name?” 

“His name is Wilbur.” 

Chapter Text

“Of Course it is, it just had to be Wilbur. I can’t caught a fucking break.” The last part he mumbled under his breath.

“I take it you know him.”

“He’s a regular, and it’s hard to forget someone who drinks a black coffee with 5 shots. What’s your name?” 

“Techno. Was he in here?”

“I’m Tommy. Weird name but I've heard worse. I mean my roommate is literally named Ranboo, but back to Wilbur. He was in here and got his death drink. Maybe it lived up to its name.” Tommy rambled a tad, but seriously Techno and Wilbur what were their parents thinking!

CLANK

“What was that?”

“I don’t know, it was probably the broom falling. Let me go check.” Tommy might actually follow through with the murder of a pretentious asshole named Wilbur.  

“What the fuck are you doing back here! I thought I told you not to move!” Tommy whisper yelled as he pushed open the door. 

Wilbur was standing slightly hunched over in the middle of the room frozen looking at the bucket that Tommy had gotten out. It looked like he had kicked when getting up. 

"Wilbur, your brother is here looking for you. Am I still hiding you back here or are you going out? He has the right to know if you have a bullet stuck in you." Tommy stated after seeing that all the damage done was a shifted bucket. 

Wilbur let out a broken sigh as he said, "Yeah, he does. If you don't see me for a while just know it's either because he killed me or I am grounded."

"L, you still get grounded."

"You say that like you don't."

"What can I say, I am just too great to be grounded. Now get out before your brother decides to also kill me for hiding you." 

Wilbur moved one step before falling. Tommy made to catch him but wasn't quite strong enough and ended up getting dragged down too. While they were still a pile of limbs the door was pushed open. 

Techno stood in the doorway not having stepped across the line yet. 

Tommy felt movement under him as Wilbur shifted his head to see who came in. 

"oh hey Techno…" Wilbur trailed off, before starting again, "Tommy, run."

“Ok, you're on your own Wil, see ya.”

“What I said was a joke! Don’t leave me with him!” Wilbur latched onto Tommy’s arm.

“Not my fault you came with a gunshot wound! Not to mention the fact it's still in there!”

Tecno stood leaning on the door frame watching the two before butting in, “Phil is going to kill you.” 

“Wow thank you so much for that totally necessary piece of information Techno!” Wilbur said, finally turning back to his brother.

Something flashed behind Techno’s eyes and Wilbur must’ve seen it too because he immediately back tracked on his words. 

—-------------------

Tommy left the cafe that night replaying the scene of Techno grabbing Wilbur and carrying him out bridal style while Wilbur protested the whole thing saying that he can walk. He personally didn’t want to find out who this Phil character is. 

He had started to hate this walk home, too much shit had happened to him. The only comfort was that he had started seeing Nuke and Ender on the roof tops on his way home. So at least if something happened they wouldn’t be too far. Tonight it looked like Ender was out. 

Tommy paused, foot still in the air as shouting echoed through the street behind him. That was his que to get home. He booked it the next block and a half and didn’t stop till he was at his shared apartment. 

Tubbo was sitting on the couch as he practically shoved the door open after the key was turned. 

“What happened?” Tubbo expressed concern clearly in his voice.

“I was walking home and there was shouting behind me. I ran as soon as I heard it.” Tommy gasped out. 

“You're okay though?” Tubbo said, scanning Tommy for injuries.

“I am but I don't know about the person who was shouting.” 

“I’m sure they are fine. One of the vigilantes most likely handled it.” 

“Yeah they probably did.” Tommy sighed letting a breath out. “I saw Ender out around the area so he was probably the one who took care of it.”

“What do you think of vigilantes?” Tubbo asked lightly.

“I think that they do a lot of good in the lower district that the heroes ignore. They are under rated and pretty chill in my opinion.”

They were interrupted by a crash in their shared room. Then Ranboos' voice rang through the hallway. 

“Tubbo, I need some help here!” A panicked edge to it.

“Uhh Tommy, wait here. I’ll go see what Boo got himself into now.” The concerned tone was back.

“Okayyy then thats not sus at all.” 

“Did you really just say sus? That died like a year ago.” Tubbo yelled as he disappeared into the room before a faint fuck was heard. 

Tommy went and sat down and saw that Tubbo had been watching the news. He didn’t want to watch the news so he looked for the remote. After 2 minutes of looking he made eye contact with it. It was laughing at him from the kitchen counter where Tubbo must’ve set it down when he and Tommy were talking.

Tommy wasn’t walking the ten feet to get it so he settled for the news. 

“ Tonight’s top story is about a drug deal gone wrong! Shouts were heard today around the well known bakery. Things quickly escalated when the vigilante known as Ender stepped in to stop the criminals. Reports say that there were originally 3 criminals but it ended with a total of about 6. From there shots were fired and witnesses say that Ender took out 5 of them with ease before the 6th pulled a gun. Ender received 2 shots before disappearing. It is unknown how critical these wounds are. The police are asking that any gunshot wound victims are reported.” 

“TOMMY! I NEED HELP!” Tubbo’s shout came from the bedroom. 

Normally Tommy would have just asked what was up then tell Tubbo to ask Ranboo but this sounded different. Tubbo had fear in his voice.

He swung the door open and was faced with the vigilante Ender collapsed on the ground. There was a blossoming patch of red on the floor around Ender. Tubbo was kneeling next to them, hands covered in blood from putting pressure on the wounds. 

Tommy hurried and kneeled on the other side, wincing as he felt the blood soak into his pants. Even if he hadn’t just seen the news report it was clear he had been shot twice. 

“He will be ok. Are they still in there?” He said internally panicking but putting on a calm front for Tubbo.

“Are what in there?” Tubbo finally looked up from Ender.

“The bullets! I can’t-well I can but it would hurt him in the long run if we leave them in.” 

“Oh, no they went all the way through them.” 

“Good for me, bad news for them though. Here's what I want you to do Tubbo go grab the disinfectant while I cut their shirt to get a better look. Okay?”

Tubbo left the room with a glance over his shoulder as he turned the corner.

Tommy quickly found a pair of scissors before stopping and choosing to just pull the shirt up as high as he could. Clothes were expensive and Tommy didn’t know what resources the dude had. 

Ender’s breathing was labored and rough when Tubbo got back with the items. Tommy got to work right away and carefully disinfected the holes entrance and exit. He decided to heal one at a time in favor of only having to stitch one if he couldn’t heal them all the way. 

Tommy pulled his powers up and his hands lit up in a golden light like all the other times though it looked more of a golden orange now. Not that he had time to dwell on that. The glow enveloped Ender as the lesion sewed itself together under his palm. 

He could feel as energy was pulled from him causing a slight headache. It wasn’t as bad as the other times or when he healed himself. When he moved his hand over the second gunshot wound as expected the area was closed up. Ender’s breath evened out and if Tommy had to guess would be waking up very soon.

The golden light had fully turned orange now. His headache was strong but not overwhelming and he didn’t feel like passing out. Tubbo just stared at him, mouth slightly ajar. They just sat there in silence until Ender started moving.

“T-tubbo? Tommy?” Confusion laced Ender’s voice. 

That's when it hit Tommy that Ender was Ranboo and he had been blind to it. They were the same height, build, and favored the same colors. That would also mean that Tubbo was Nuke. As in the one that came passed out near death to his cafe job. His roommates were vigilantes and they kept it from him. 

“Ranboo?” Tommy said, needing to confirm his suspicions.

Tubbo paused and looked at Tommy once he said that and let out a sigh as he reached down and pulled Ender's mask off revealing Ranboos face. En-Ranboo had fell back into unconsciousness. 

“I know we lied to you and were sorry but we did it to keep you safe if we got caught. Kinda like ‘the less you know the better’ type of thing. Looking back it was kinda stupid for us to hide it but at the time it seemed reasonable. Also if you haven’t figured it out already I am Nuke.” Tubbo explained quickly, guilt clear on his face. 

Tommy looked at Tubbo and Ranboo his best friends (not that he would ever admit it to Ranboo). He understood where they were coming from with the whole protecting him and he would be a hypocrite if he was upset at them because of it. Granted he heals villains and vigilantes while they are actually putting their life at risk by fighting criminals and running from heroes.

Tommy sighed, the trio seemed to be doing that a lot recently. They moved Ranboo onto their shared bed before closing the door and sitting together on the couch. Choosing his words carefully he said.

“Tubbo… I’m not exactly upset and I see where you are coming from. As you probably know by now, I heal vigilantes and sometimes villains. I would be a hypocrite if I was mad at you for keeping that a secret when I also had one. Let's just move on and promise to tell each other important shit, okay?” 

“I promise and I am sure that Ranboo will too once he wakes up.” 

“Also why didn’t you at least tell me you had powers? That is what hurts me the most about this situation. How did you find out you had powers?”

Tubbos' face fell more than it already had, “Well I found out probably 3 months ago when me and Ran were walking home together and something came flying at us. Ranboo said that my eyes flashed a neon green before whatever was flying at us exploded leaving me and Ran fine. We weren't fine because I exploded it though it was since Ran grabbed me and teleported us out of the way.”

“So let me get this straight you both found out you had powers at the same time trying to save each other? That’s so cute (platonic). Honestly Tubbo I wish you guys had told me so I could’ve at least helped and didn’t feel like I was the problem to why we weren’t getting along! Why did you become vigilantes?” 

“Aww Tommy! We were watching the news about how crime rates have been on a steady rise in our part of town after the vigilante named Solar got arrested. You were walking home at night after your shift and we didn’t want you to get hurt so we took up the hobby ourselves. I mostly do the fighting while Ranboo watches and teleports in when I need assistance. When did you start healing villains?”

“You remember when the news claimed that Siren had died but then the next day showed up and stopped his team from raiding the HQ or about me bringing home the cat? Well Siren was currently in our closet sleeping or something while that was happening. When you called me out the next night about the blankets and blood I panicked and lied about the cat figuring since Siren is a pussy it fit.”

“Wait wait, so you're telling me you healed the villain Siren here and then proceeded to hide him in our closet so that Ran and I didn’t find him. That has to go down in the history books! I wish I could be mad about that but that’s just fucking funny! On a more serious note, what even happened for you to have him here healing? I only heard what the news said about it.”

“Well, I was doing our normal grocery shopping when the window exploded because I’m assuming Dream threw a car through it. Once I recovered slightly I left the store and Siren and Dream were facing off in the middle of the road. Dream was using his powers to throw dumpsters at Siren who dodged them. Dream finally got him with a car door and knocked Siren out.

 Dream walked up and stood over Siren before stabbing him through his stomach and leaving. I was compelled to check on Siren and found him barely alive. He had the hole through his stomach and a broken arm. I somehow managed to make it home before he lost too much blood and healed him.”

It felt good to finally tell Tubbo about what happened even if it was a month or two ago. He mostly felt relieved that he no longer had to hide his side hobby from them either.

“Do you care if I heal villains or other vigilantes here if it’s a last resort?”

“Only if it’s a last resort. Can you also text or call us to let us know so we don’t show up and leak our identities?”

“Of Course! I thought that went without saying!”

They waited up together talking over the last few months as they waited for Ranboo to wake up. They both fell asleep on the couch in a pile of limbs before Ranboo woke up. Both boys felt like a weight that they didn’t even know they were carrying was lifted from their shoulders. 

Ranboo woke up to see that he was in their room and relaxed before noticing that he was still in his vigilante clothes without his mask. He stood up and walked out to the livingroom to find his friends and saw them snuggled on the couch. He found his phone in his pocket and snapped a quick picture of them to use as blackmail. 

Chapter Text

Tommy was currently sitting at one of the cafe tables scrolling through Twitter(X) to see who was getting canceled that day. By the top trending tag being #FckDream his bet was that the PR person for Dream was having a bad day. What was funny was the second top tag being #Nuke&Ender. He would have to ask them later what that's about since he left before they woke up. 

The cafe bell rang and for the first time since Tommy watched Techno carry Wilbur out he was back. It had been about a week and a half and if Tommy was being honest he was missing bickering with the man. Wilbur basically threw himself into the chair across from Tommy. 

“Wow, what happened to you?”

“I’ve been grounded for the past week is what happened.”

“BHAHA, no way you were grounded!”

“Remind me why the first thing I did when I was ungrounded was come here again?”

“Because I am awesome and you miss my great personality, I also make the best coffee.”

“I can deny the first two things as lies but I gotta hand it to you, you do make the best coffee. Speaking of that, can I get a triple shot espresso?”

“One heart attack coming right up. Do you know why the tag #FckDream is trending right now?”

“I heard that he went after that vigilante duo last night when they were apparently eating McDonalds on a rooftop relaxing and ignored summons to an actual crime. Those summons were to sort out a hostage situation and since he was chasing Nuke and Ender they couldn’t respond either.” Wilbur said nonchalantly. 

“Well that’s a valid reason to cancel him then. Here’s your death drink.”

They talked until Wilbur had to leave, only pausing when Tommy had to help other customers. His shift that day had been a double so he worked afternoon and night. The night was very calm; only 3 people had come in for night coffee. 

Tommy was sitting on his phone counting the minutes till he could leave. Yay, down to 2 hours. He drifted thinking about his encounter with the whole Syndicate and how they seemed like a family and not just a group of people with an alliance but more like him with Ranboo and Tubbo. The bell chimed, cutting his thoughts off. 

Dream, 404 and Flame all walked in, to Tommy’s dismay. Welp, maybe he could get some autographs to sell or maybe burn. 

“Hello! What can I get for you guys tonight!” He said with fake enthusiasm. 

“Do you guys have hot chocolate? We want something warm but no caffeine.” Dream spoke up.

“Who do you take us for, a fool cafe? Of course we have hot chocolate!” Tommy acted offended. “That will be $10.05 and do you think I could possibly get an autograph? If not that’s completely fine I know it must get annoying having people ask.”

“No it’s fine, do you have something we can sign?”

“Yeah, I will have to grab paper from the back. Are these for here or to go?”

“I think we will stick around.”

“Great, sit where you want and I’ll bring your drinks out when they're done!”

Tommy went to the back after finishing the coffee to grab the paper and shot Tubbo and Ranboo a text about the Dream team being there. 

“Here are your three hot chocolates. Careful not to burn your mouths on them. You can sign this paper too if you want.”

“Thank you Tommy!” Flame says as he sips his hot chocolate not having to worry about getting burned and signs the paper. They pass the pen around until all three sign. 

Tommy leaves them to their conversation and decides to do some clean up so it doesn’t take so long at closing. The heroes didn’t talk about anything interesting but apparently Dream has a cat named Patches. After about an hour they made their leave and left a decent tip for him. 

From what Tommy saw of Dream tonight he didn’t seem like a bad person that would stab an already beaten opponent but looks can be deceiving. Hell the guy went after his best friends last night apparently.

“Guys,  I’m home! Also why is #FckDream and #Nuke&Ender trending side by side?”

“Tommy! Um we may or may not have run into him last night and played a game of aggressive tag. Ran and I won obviously and then he got canceled.” Tubbo shrugged. 

They high fived and went and watched tv with Ranboo all night. Both opted to stay in with the Dream team being in the area that night. By the time the sun rose they were a pile of limbs. Tommy woke up to see that Tubbo somehow managed to untangle himself without waking them up and had started breakfast. 

Tommy realized that it was Saturday and they had the whole day together. The question was how they were going to spend it.

“What do you want to do all day, Tubbo?”

“Well since we haven’t really spent quality time together since we told you we’re vigilantes about a week ago I was hoping to hang around here. I don’t know, watch shows or talk since I’m sure you have more questions.”

“Fuck yeah! Can we watch a bee documentary.”

“Well see what Ran wants to do when he wakes up but he’s probably tired from power use.”

Tommy grabbed his phone and saw that it was 7am way too early for a Saturday, he’s going back to sleep. The group decided on Harry Potter after many arguments over a bee documentary or Up. That night the vigilante duo headed out to stop crime. Which was new to Tommy since before they would hide it from him. 

“Can I come?” Tommy complained.

“No you're not a vigilante and you don’t know how to fight. Plus what would be the purpose of us doing this if we just put you right back into harm's way.” Tubbo pointed out.

“I can fight! I can probably beat you!” 

“Fine, you really think you can?”

“Ofcourse.”

“Fine, pillow fight to see who wins then maybe we can move to real combat.”

“What’s  a pillow fight got to do w-” Tommy was cut off by a pillow to the face and a smiling Tubbo. 

“What the fuck Tubbo! I wasn’t ready!” 

“Surprise attack, bitch! Life doesn’t wait for you to be ready!” 

“Why are you saying hard truths in the middle of a pillow fight!”

“Because it throws you off your game.”

“Wh- damn it!”

Tubbo had jumped at Tommy with a pillow hitting him mid jump and then tackling him. Tommy hit the ground with Tubbo on top of him, not that it hurt. Tommy jumped back up onto his feet and pelted a pillow at Tubbo while he was still down. They continued like that until 2 pillows smacked them both in the face.  Ranboo stood off to the side laughing at their antics.

“Guys as much as I love watching you have a pillow fight, me and Tubbo have to patrol. Tommy you can’t come with us but I’m sure that Tubbo can connect our coms to your discord. So then if we do need you we don’t have to waste time calling.” Ranboo compromised. 

Tubbo sighed and dropped his own pillow before going over to his barely legal computer (read as illegal). A few minutes later he declared that they were connected and that they should go. They started the call to make sure before the duo left through the window onto the fire escape. 

“What should my name be?” Tommy wondered out loud not expecting a response. 

“Racoon.” Was Tubbos immediate response.

“Noo why was the trash panda your first thought.” Tommy complained.

“Was that a serious question?”

“Was that a serious suggestion?”

“Touche.”

“Nuke we are literally fighting right now! Can you focus before I have to drag you to Tommy again.” Ranboo well Ender butted in. 

Now that Ranboo mentioned it Tommy could hear the sounds of fighting in the background. 

“Aww but I was having a good conversation. Oh shit nevermind going to focus.”

Tommy was left in the dark as the fight continued. Which didn’t help his worry for his friends. How long did it take to fight a group of people? He assumed that it would be like five or ten, not 20 minutes. 

“Uhh guys? Are you there? Am I needed?” Tommy received his answer in the form of Ranboo teleporting right next to where he was sitting. Like the man Tommy is, he definitely didn’t scream and fall off the couch. It didn’t help that Tubbo started laughing at him once he saw Tommy on the ground. 

“Fuck you! Ranboo and Tubbo! How dare you scare me like that! I am absolutely disgusted! I am now facing a long recovery, and it is entierly your fault! If either of you put another toe out of line, I’ll drag you both home!” Tommy said somehow managing a straight face from his nice spot on the floor. 

“We did NOT watch Harry Potter all day just for you to quote Molly Weasly to us.” Tubbo said as he grabbed the pillow next to him. 

“Nope nope nope we aren’t having another pillow fight tonight. I am too tired from patrol for you two to be yelling at each other. We also can’t afford to have another noise complaint.” Ranboo grabbed the pillow from Tubbo and held it over his head, out of reach.

“Oh that’s just cold Boo. Why must you use your height against me? Now I must resort to stealing kneecaps!” Tubbo dove for Ranboos' knees and tackled him like he did to Tommy earlier. They landed on the couch and the pillow ended up landing on Tommy who was still on the floor. 

“Big mistake.” Tommy stood up and hit them both repeatedly while they were on the couch before retreating to the bathroom and locking the door. Not that the lock worked very well so he threw his shoulder against it to hold it shut. 

“TOMMY!”

“TOMMY’S NOT HERE!”

“FINE SLEEP IN THERE TONIGHT.”

“Wait, no Tubbo.” Tommy swung the door open, “I’m sorry, please don’t make me sleep in the bathroom. I think that Shroud would actually murder me.”

“Who is Shroud?”

“YOU DON’T KNOW WHO SHROUD IS! Wait, actually you're too short to even see him but, he’s the spider that lives above the tall cabinet. I fear him and you should too.”

“It’s too late for me to deal with this. Ran, where do you want to sleep tonight?”

“Umm can I take the bed tonight?”

“Yep, Tommy you got the couch, see you in the morning. But if you wake me up before noon I will throw you out the window-”

“Ok, that’s fine, there is a fire escape to land on.”

“You didn’t let me finish. What I was going to say was that I will throw you out the window and then off the firescape but make sure you land in the trash to break your fall and allow me to do it again.” Tubbo said in one breath, without breaking eye contact.

“Noted Tubs, I will see you at exactly 12:01 tomorrow.”

“I don’t think I have made myself clear if you do anything to make me wake up before I actually am awake then the previous statement will happen. If you inadvertently make something happen to wake me up, the previous statement will happen.”

“You scare me sometimes between your mood swings and how I know you’re not joking about any of it.” Tommy said, backing away towards the couch. 

“Damn right.” Tubbo maintained eye contact all the way till the bedroom door shut.

Tommy wasn’t going to mess with Tubbo. He had pressed his luck once, never again, never again. 

—---------

Ranboo and Tubbo slept late into Sunday and Tommy didn’t dare wake them up. He didn’t need to mark getting thrown out the window to the odd ways he has gotten hurt. So he just continued watching Harry Potter and managed to watch the 4th before they emerged from the bedroom. Just in time for his phone to ring, the contact said that it was The Muffin Man.

“Hey! Tommy, do you think that you could possibly come in? Skeppy had to bail on me and I don’t think that I can handle the cafe by myself.”

“Yeah! I can have nothing on my schedule, be there in 15.” Tommy hung up and turned around and came face to face with Tubbo holding Shroud.

“TUBBO GET THAT HELL SPAWN AWAY FROM ME! HOW DID YOU EVEN REACH THEM!”

”Ranboo helped me.”

“Ranboo you have no idea what you’ve done.”

“Hey, leave me out of it you know how Tubbo is!”

“Fair but I thought you knew better than to fall for the puppy dog eyes.”

“No one is above my puppy dog eyes. No one.”

“Nope, I’m out. Ranboo, have fun with what you helped create.”

With that Tommy grabbed a somewhat clean hoodie and ran to work. By the time he got there it had been a half hour. The bell rang as he stepped into the sweet smelling cafe. He hadn’t been there for a while when Bad was baking. 

“Sorry, I’m late! Tubbo came at me with a spider!”

“It’s okay, can you man the front while I go check the muffins?”

“Yeah as long as no karens come in.” Tommy eyed the trio who had just walked in.

Chapter Text

The trio was relatively short compared to Tommy but seemed to make up for it in personality. One walked up to order while the 2 trailed behind. The one who approached had on a maroon beanie with a gold block smile on it, black hair showing under the edges of the hat. The other two aka Guy 2 and Guy 3 were close to the same height though it was clear who was taller. 

Guy 2 was wearing a white sweatshirt with a campfire flame minus the campfire and just the flame, black cargo pants, nike pros (I have no knowledge of shoes), and had blackish brown hair. Guy 3 looked to be matching guy 2 but the sweatshirt had a purple base and different color sleeves and a light blue square swirl in the middle, he had light brown hair. 

“Hello, what can I get for you today!”

“Hi, can we get 6 macarons, 2 hot chocolates and a triple shot cappuccino.” 

“Sure, what flavor for the macarons?” Tommy acknowledged before processing. “Wait, did you just say a fucking triple shot cappachino!”

A faint language came from where the oven was.  

“Yes? Got an issue with it?”

“Yes! Why the hell would you order a triple shot coffee!”

“Because I’m tired and I am going to be up late tonight!”

“Ugh, I don’t get paid enough to deal with this.” Tommy dropped it. Wilbur was way worse than this guy anyway.

“2 lemon, 2 raspberry, and 2 chocolate for the macarons please.” Guy 3 jumped in at the pause.

“Got it, that will be $21.05 and can I get a name?”

Guy 3 stepped up and said Karl before Guy 1 could respond and the trio sat down in one of the booths. Tommy grabbed three cups and got the hot chocolate and cappuccino going before grabbing a plate and arranging the macarons on it. He decided to add one of each kind since it looks like Bad was stress baking and they had over stock. 

It would also allow them each to try them all or just have another of their favorite kind. He was willing to forget about that cappuccino since the other 2 got hot chocolate which was obviously a superior choice. Tommy grabbed the serving tray that was rarely used and placed all the drinks plus the plate on it.

“Here are your macarons, 2 hot chocolates, and the abomination.” As he did he placed the items in front of who he thought each were for. The triple shot went to Guy 1 since he defended it. 

“Thanks! Oh, it seems you accidently gave us three of each and not just two.”

“Oh, that wasn’t an accident, you could all try one of each or have another. I don’t know, Bad made too many today.” Tommy shrugged and left it at that heading to see where Bad was.

“Hey, Bad how long is this shift going to be?”

“I was hoping that you could close today. Skeppy is sick and I want to be there if he needs anything. You will get paid the same as a normal shift and I can add a $15 bonus since it was your day off. There are enough baked goods to last the day and anything that will go stale you can take home for you and your roommates. I can ev-”

Tommy cut Bad off, “I can close. Had no other plans and please tell Skeppy to get a better immune system.”

“Thank you so much Tommy! See you tomorrow!” Bad practically ran out of the cafe before Tommy could respond.

Turns out that Bad did a lot of stress baking by the looks of the kitchen and the display case. He decided to check to see what was going to go stale and determined that there was going to be too much for him to carry home unless more were sold. 

Tommy went back out to the front and helped the line that had occurred in his time talking to Bad. The first few were all okay and had reasonable orders. The last one on the other hand was a full karen. 

“Ma’am I already remade your drink following exactly how you told me to make it. I am not going to make it a 3rd time. You can take this one and cut your losses or you can just go somewhere else.”

“Fine.” She grabs the drink from the counter. “But I want a refund!”

“Ma’am I can’t give you a refund as I remade the drink and so if you take that with the refund it is basically a free drink and I can’t do that.”

“SO YOU'RE GOING TO MAKE MY DRINK WRONG AND THEN REFUSE TO GIVE ME MY MONEY BACK!”

To put it nicely Tommy was going to lose his shit. “Miss, there is no need to yell when I am three feet away. If you are going to continue to yell I am asking you to leave now.”

“I WANT TO SPEAK TO YOUR MANAGER! I’M GOING TO GET YOU FIRED!” She yelled, drawing the attention of the trio who had been relaxing.

“Ok, ma’am. I will go get them.”

Tommy walked into the back and looked around his eyes, landed on a random wig that was sticking out from a box in the breakroom and quickly put it on. He then put on the extra shirt he kept in his locker since the burn incident. 

“Hello, miss my employee said you wanted to see me?” Tommy said, raising his voice an octave since the wig was long hair. 

“Finally someone who can help me! Your employee is incompetent, he can’t even make a simple drink. I suggest you fire him and get a better worker. He even called me foul names and spit in this drink.” She said completely changing how she was acting to act as a ‘victim’ and holding the drink out to him.

Tommy was both pissed and laughing on the inside. She couldn’t tell the employee she was shit talking, was the manager in a wig. “He is a hard worker and I don’t believe he would spit in anyone’s drink. I am going to have to ask you to leave the premises as you are disturbing the customers. 

“Fine, but you just lost a very valuable customer!” She exclaimed and left quickly but not before throwing the drink at Tommy hitting him in the chest.

“That mother fucker I hope she goes to hell.” Tommy thought he muttered as he looked down at his shirt now covered in coffee. Jokes on her this was his extra shirt, and it wasn’t even hot since she spent so long arguing with him. 

“I hope she does too. Are you okay?” 

Tommy raised his head to see which of the trio spoke, turns out it was Guy 2. “Yep it wasn’t even hot since she spent so much time arguing with me, haha. I can’t believe she fell for the wig and shirt.” 

“Bro neither can I. It took everything for me not to laugh and give it away! I think we need to come here more often, Q. '' Karl said, bumping his shoulder into Q as he did. 

Tommy checked the time and it was the time that his night shift would start. Which meant that there would be hardly any customers to buy pastries. “Would you guys like to take some pastries or baked goods home? On the house, of course, we have an overstock!”

“Can I get some more lemon macarons?”

“Sure, Q and random guy want anything?”

“Quackity and Sapnap. Can I get 5 chocolate muffins please.” Quackity said pointing at himself and then Spanap

“I’m good.”

“Yep, give me a minute to package them.”

Tommy decided to give Karl all the lemon macarons since Tubbo and Ranboo aren’t a fan of lemon for some reason. Once he handed the goods over the trio left promising to come back soon as this was their new favorite place. Time for him to be bored out of his mind for the next 4 hours till closing. 

He closed and locked up without a hitch and made his way home avoiding the alleys he knew were bad. His phone buzzed in his pocket, it was about a villain/hero fight about 4 blocks away. Was he going home now? Nope, was he going to the fight? 100%.

Tommy got as close as he could on the ground but he still couldn’t see anything so he climbed up the next fire escape and onto the roof. From there he had a clear view of the fight happening. His phone went off and it was Tubbo on discord calling him, he answered and was met with the immediate question of if he was okay.

“I’m watching the fight right now, I will let you know if I get in trouble.” He quickly said not hearing Tubbos' response before he turned back to the fight. The call continued but Tommy turned his phone volume down. 

Many things were going on at the same time. Blade and Dream plus Flame were facing off, Zephryus and 404 were doing a dangerous dance. Tommy glanced back down at his phone and turned the volume up just enough to hear Tubbo. 

“TOMMY, I SWEAR.”

“Would you look at that timing Tubso.” Tommy cut the rant short.

“Fucking finally, me and Boo are on the way in gear. But it’s not our normal gear so we won’t be labeled villains if we have to intervene.”

“Awesome! I am on the roof across from the fight.” Tommy sent them a picture so Ranboo could teleport straight there instead of guessing. 

The phone went silent. Then Tommy felt hands on his shoulders but they released him just as quickly. He almost gave himself whiplash from turning so fast. Slenderman was standing directly behind him. 

Ranboo was dressed in an old very tattered red hoodie and a plain black mask. Tubbo was in an almost identical fit except the red was replaced with black. Tubbo cracked his knuckles as Tommy took in their appearance. 

“Now why would you think it’s a good idea to mute your phone while on call with me?”

“So they couldn’t hear it obviously.”

“Perfect lead up to my next question! Why the fuck do you think it’s a good idea to watch a villian fight! From a roof nonetheless!”

“Purely for entertainment purposes.” Tommy stated before a ball of fire hit the building they were standing on but didn’t catch fire. .

“Speaking of that villain fight we should probably be watching it.”

“Here take this. It's a earpiece so that we can still communicate with each other when me and Boo are out.”

“Thanks tubs.”

The fight had moved to the ground and off the high roof tops. Down on the ground it looked like Blade was fighting the hero's Blaze and 404 while Zephyrus was fighting Dream. Blade was doing good fighting the two heroes surprisingly, it looked like 404 was out of knives and using his back up sword. Flame was trying to hit Blade with fireballs but they were all dodged.

There was a lot of yelling being thrown around from both groups. Tommy wondered where Siren was that he wasn’t attending this fight. As he watched Zephyrus and Dream had moved down the street from them. They traded blows but to Tommy it looked like they all missed. 

If Tommy didn’t know they were fighting he would have thought they were dancing. Blade tripped over a loose chunk of concrete that Flame had broken right as Flame launched a fireball at them. The fire hit him and blasted Blade backwards and through a wall. 

Dream and Zephyrus pause to see what caused the loud noise and Zephryus came to the conclusion faster than Dream did. Zephryus flew through the hole in the wall before he could be stopped by the group and grabbed an unconscious Blade. 

“Looks like your options are limited Zephyrus. Where is the fucker Siren and his annoying voice?” Dream taunted. Zephyrus just stayed quiet and didn’t respond. Tubbo called Tommy again. 

“Blade doesn’t look good.” Tubbo pointed out.

“No shit sherlock. He just got blown through a wall.”

“You can heal him.” Tubbo so helpfully pointed out again.

“Oh really it’s not like that thought crossed my mind already.”

“Just follow them once they escape. If they don’t well looks like me and Ender are going to have to intercept an armored police transport car. We are going to get closer just in case, stay.” With that Tubbo and Ranboo jumped into the alley and disappeared. 

“I’ll let you know if I see Siren show up, it’s weird that those two are out without him.” Tommy said as the two split from away to stop the police intervention.

“Let who know if I show up?”

Tommy jumped and spun the best he could while on his knees to see Siren standing behind him. Siren had his hands in his pockets like he was out for a casual stroll and not about to go fight heroes. 

“No one. Are you going to go help them or just stand there?” Tommy spoke mostly trying to distract Siren from who he was talking to.

“I probably should. Looks like those two got themselves into pretty big shit this time.” Siren also looked down from the building at the confrontation going on below. A few seconds later he dropped down to street level and walked up behind Dream. He threw a punch to the base of Dream's head and he dropped like a sack of potatoes. 

404 and Flame turned and immediately attacked Siren as those 3 were fighting Blade and Zephyrus retreated into the alley between Tommy’s building and the next one. Before the two made it into the alley a stray fireball that Flame was randomly firing smashed through one of the business windows. The whole building was ablaze before Tommy could register what happened.

Zephyrus put a wing over Blade to protect him from the debris and smoke that was now spiraling out of the broken window. Siren paused for a moment to see the damage but even that second was too long. Flame and set another column of fire at him and in his distraction he couldn’t get out of the way fully. Siren’s trench coat was on fire and was quickly spreading to the layers underneath. Siren stopped, dropped, and rolled in hopes of putting it out.

 “That building isn’t going to last much longer Tommy! Get Blade and Zephyrus out of that alley before it does!”  Tommy could hear Tubbo yelling through the earpiece. 

Tommy looked back into the alley that Zephyrus and Blade were in and noticed that neither were moving now. Zephyrus appeared to have a foot long piece of scrap metal through his wing from covering Blade. The building groaned as the fire engulfed the upper floors, Tommy could only hope that no one was inside. Siren was back on his feet and in a defensive position surrounded in smoke. 

404 appeared out of the smoke holding Dream and took off in the direction of HQ, Flame trailed behind to cover their retreat. Not that Siren could even see them leaving through the smoke. 

“Zephyrus and Blade are out and I can’t carry both of them. I need help!” Tommy practically yelled hoping the communicator picked his voice up over the fire. 

Ran appeared behind him and quickly grabbed Blade and signaled for Tommy to grab Zephyrus. Together they pulled them through the alley to the other side where Tubbo was. Tubbo went to the other side of Blade as they made their way out of the alley.

“Anyone tell Siren that we are taking his teammates? Or y’know in general that the fight is over?”

“No? Boo?”

“I was too focused on getting out of the alley before that building came down on us.”

“Oh that’s just wonderful then. I should probably go back and try to at least find him.” Tommy sighed as he turned towards Tubbo, “But I have to heal these two idiots. Can you go see if he needs help in case the heroes doubled back?” 

“Aww does Tommy have a soft spot for Siren.” Tubbo said as if he was talking to a baby. To Tommy’s dismay he ran away before Tommy could smack him. 

“I do not!” Tommy yelled into the darkness, after Tubbo.

“Come on, these two won’t heal themselves!” Ranboo said with fake enthusiasm. “House or cafe?”

Tommy looked around for a moment trying to figure out exactly where they were before responding, “House, it’s two blocks compared to the four of the cafe.”

—---------------------------

Tubbo had been looking for Siren for hours (at most 1 hour) with no sign. Just as he thought that there was a flash of movement then pain exploded across his right eye. As he fell an arm grabbed him so he didn’t land on his face but his back. His vision was gone in his right eye and blurry in the other. Tubbo lashed out whoever it was and his fist connected. A pained grunt came from above him but the weight still didn’t shift.

“Get off!” Tubbo shouted. As his vision was more focused in his left eye and was now just blurry in his right. 

“Where are my teammates! I know you have them!” A voice practically hissed in his ear. Causing Tubbo to flinch.

“Siren?”

“The one and only.”

“Get off before I detonate the bomb in my pocket.” Tubbo said hoping that Siren believed the bluff since he wasn’t in his normal outfit. 

Believe it he did as Siren was across the roof from him in seconds looking at him like Tubbo was the crazy one. Just because he liked to make and carry bombs with him doesn’t make him deserve the look Siren was giving him. It was a mix between pure horror and judgment conveyed the best he could due to the mask. 

Hell Siren was a murderer and he’s looking at Tubbo like this. “Since you decided to punch me like a barbarian before attempting to talk to me like any civil person. You can wait for the answer until I feel better.” 

“You are literally insane! Why would you carry a bomb in your pocket when something like this could happen! What if it went off!” 

“Aw is the big bad Siren scared of a little bomb. And oh well not our problem if it goes off.”

“No shit we would have been dead.”

“Exactly, now you get it.”

Siren just stared at him for a solid 2 minutes with concern but did Tubbo care, nope. His bluff worked and got Siren off him. “Alright to answer your questions. I don’t know exactly where they are at, there are two places they could be. Also I don’t physically have your teammates, they are with my acquaintances.” 

Tubbo didn’t want to give too much information about his friendship with Tommy and Ranboo since that would just lead to more issues. That being him and Ranboo watching Tommy more in their vigilante get ups. Siren could easily put two and two together if he saw them together and then where they would be. 

He and Ran are going to be careful not to expose that they are vigilantes especially if Tommy is going to be healing people in their apartment without a mask.

“What do you mean that they are with your teammates and you don’t know where they are?” Siren said, concern gone.

“Exactly what you just said?”

“It was rhetorical.”

Tubbo rolled his eyes and waved for Siren to follow him. He pressed the comm in his right ear to contact his friends to get the location but his hand brushed skin instead of metal. He checked his other ear just in case but had the same results.

“Motherfucker!” Tubbo said angrily, then rounded on Siren. “You broke my fucking earpiece do you know how long it took me to make it! Not to mention how hard it’s to find the right metal and parts!”

The height difference would have been comical except for the fact that Tubbo made up the difference with anger. 

Siren held up his hands in surrender. “I didn’t know you had it in!” 

“Y’know if you had a civil conversation with me then you might have! And get this my earpiece would still be intact! Just you wait, your kneecaps will be mine, when you least expect it.” Tubbo threatened before walking to the edge of the roof they were on and debating where Ranboo and Tommy went. 

“Look I'm sorry, ok? I know that wasn’t the best move but you have to understand that my teammates are worth more to me than you can imagine.” Siren sighed as he also walked over but instead sat down and dangled his feet over the edge. 

“I know how you feel.”

“Do you though? Do you know what it feels like to see someone who you care about with a knife in their abdomen? A bullet through their wing, hell even broken? You have no idea what it’s like to hear someone you care about say their last words fully believing they won’t open their eyes again.” Siren said sorrowfully but somehow also angry.

Tubbo sat down next to Siren before starting, “I am only going to say this once, you have no idea who I am or my backstory so you can’t judge if I actually know how you feel. Let's go find our friends, you will find we have more in common than you think.” 

Tubbo left Siren sitting on the rooftop mouth slightly agape. He counted the blocks to the cafe and to the house and the cafe was twice as far away from their current location but given where the fight had happened he concluded that the duo also would have gone to the apartment. Gods the cafe would have been way easier to eaxplain.

Chapter Text

Hi, hello! It's been awhile. I figured with all the Wilbur and Shubble drama/accusations (Edit:now proven) I would post my thoughts.

Since I have spent almost 2 years (1 year 8 months) planning this fanfic and writing, it feels like a waste to drop it. Since I am mostly writing about their c! and not cc!, I am going to continue this story. 

This doesn't mean that I condone domestic abuse and what was said in the accusations. I am fully against it. I am just choosing to separate their cc! and c!.

If you are uncomfortable with my decision to continue this and write TCMAB!Wilbur as I have, then feel free to stop reading or leave a respectful comment. 

I would love to hear all your guys thoughts on this issue and what you want from this work. 

- Monroe 

(Sorry for the slow updates)

Chapter Text

SUMMARY OF CHAPTER 8: Tommy is working the cafe and meets Karl, Sapnap, and Quackity and becomes friends. On his way home he gets a report of a villain vs. heroes fight and decides to sit on a roof and watch. Tubbo and Ranboo come and watch with him in disguises that aren’t their normal get-ups. To start it was just Blade and Zephyrus fighting the Dream team then Siren shows up towards the end. Flame hits Blade with a fireball and blows him through a building, Zephyrus sees and pulls him out. The building collapses and knocks the duo out, Tommy and Ranboo take them back to the apartment. Siren punches Tubbo and Tubbo takes him back to the apartment to see the others. 

After the difficulties that come with trying to carry 2 supervillains through town, the group made it home while scaring minimal people. Tommy was starting to worry about Tubbo since a few minutes ago there was a shout and then static. 

“Put Blade on the couch since I have to lay Zephyrus out to fix his wing. Can you also check his injuries to see how severe they are?”

“Uhh, can you heal a broken back?” Ranboo said with a scared undertone.

“What the fuck do you mean a broken back.” Tommy hurried over to where Blade was. 

Ranboo held Blade’s shirt up while Tommy felt along his spine. Tommy ran his fingers up and down Blade's spine trying to figure out where the vertebrates were lined up but stopped when one felt like it was split in half. 

“Fuckk, it is broken. I probably can but I haven’t tried to before. Plus I don’t know how to splint backs so it heals in the right place…” Tommy trailed off deep in thought. ‘I could try it without. But what if it heals wrong and he can’t walk again? Even if you fuck up the healing he isn’t going to walk again. I should at least try.’ 

“Ranboo watch over Zephyrus, make sure he stays alive while I heal Blade.”

Tommy watched as his hands lit up fully orange instead of transitioning to it. Should Tommy have not forgotten that they did that when he healed Ranboo probably. Was it too late to change that now? Definitely.

He placed his hand over the broken vertebrae and was immediately hit with exhaustion. It looked like the orange glow was getting absorbed into Blade's back and under his hand he felt the bone shift back into what Tommy assumed was the correct spot. His head was killing him but Tommy didn’t stop he pushed on for fear that if he stopped and it wasn’t healed, Blade wouldn’t walk again. Ranboo in fact, did not make sure Zephyrus stayed alive.

“Tommy! Zephyrus stopped breathing.” Ranboo started to shake Tommy’s shoulder to get his attention. 

“Shit, I’m not done and my head is killing me! Start CPR, I still need more time.” Tommy said, beads of sweat starting to appear across his brow. He held his power to Blade for another 20 seconds since that’s all he was willing to risk.

Ranboo was humming ‘Stayin' Alive’ as he was doing CPR. “I can’t bring people back to life! You need to get his heart going!”

“I’m trying! Grab Tubbo’s taser, we might be able to shock his heart.” Ranboo said, not stopping.

Tommy ran to Tubbo's bin that no one could touch and quickly found the taser. Then handed it back to Ranboo before slumping to the floor. 

“Turn it on and when I say go, shock him, over his heart.” A pause, “Go!” Tommy pushed the taser against Zephyrus, held it, and then retracted his arm. Ranboo leaned down to listen or look for breathing and sighed in relief. 

(Disclaimer: I have no idea if this works or not but would not recommend plus this is fanfic so… it works in this situation. Also is a Tubbo-built taser.)

Given how healing Blade worked Tommy placed his hands over Zephyrus's chest and built his power up before expelling it into Zephyrus. His headache just kept building and building. Tommy knew he should stop or at least rest but he had to make sure Zephyrus lived. He watched as the light coming from his hands turned a bright red, before Tommy knew it he was no longer kneeling but lying on the floor with a bright red glow covering him.

—-------------------

The scene that Tubbo was met with when he swung open their apartment door was an unexpected one. Ranboo was standing over Tommy and Zephyrus as a red glow consumed them. 

“What the fuck is happening!” Siren shouted as he budged his way into the apartment behind Tubbo. “Is that Tommy? Wait this is his apartment.”

“Yes, I told you we have more in common than you thought. How long has he been like this?” Tubbo said, turning to Ranboo mid-sentence.

“It just happened as you came in. I think it is from overusing his powers. Since I had to revive Zephyrus since his heart stopped while Tommy was healing Blade. So he got no break between healings.” Ranboo summarized.

“His heart stopped?” Siren said in a soft barely audible voice.

“Yeah, we got it started again so no worries there but I also think that his heart stopped again as Tommy was healing Zephyrus which caused his powers to go haywire.”

“How can you say no worries and then follow it up with but I think his heart stopped again, in the same sentence.” Siren ran to Zephyrus’s side and tried to reach into the red glow only to be stopped when his hand connected with it. The glow was solid, almost like a force field. That didn’t stop Siren from pounding on it a few times.

“Hey, how bout we don’t bang on the weird protective shield thing right now,” Ranboo said, pulling Siren away. “I know how hard it is to see people you care about hurt. Trust me I don’t even know if Tommy is alive in there but you have to believe they are.”

“Come on, I will make you some coffee with as much caffeine as you want,” Tubbo said, pulling Siren into the kitchen and sat him at the counter. “How many shots.”

“None, I am going to sleep and when I wake up this will have been a nightmare and everything will be fine.” 

“Fine, the closet is open if you want to use it again.”

“You know about that?”

“I know everything that goes on in this apartment. I’ll wake you up if there is a new development. Take this and go be in a state of denial now.”

So currently if Tubbo hadn’t gotten punched earlier he would be in denial of the top three supervillains being passed out in his apartment. One of them could even be dead who knows. 

“Is Tommy going to be okay?” He softly asked Ran who had just finished checking Blade. 

“I don’t know Tubbo, I truly don’t know,” Ranboo said, as he hugged Tubbo.

Chapter Text

Tommy was awake and could see what was happening around him but he couldn’t move. He watched as Siren tried to grab Zephyrus but couldn’t. He watched as Ranboo checked Blade and a little bit later hugged Tubbo while looking at him. No sound was reaching him.

All Tommy wanted to do was join them. He couldn’t move, talk or breathe. Wait- since when was breathing on that list? Sure enough, when he tried to inhale nothing happened, but he felt fine. No signs of being oxygen deprived. In fact, he felt completely fine, not even symptoms from healing Blade. 

The only thing Tommy could do was watch and even that was hard with Zephyrus blocking part of his view. He didn’t know what caused this or how long it had been but the apartment had gotten brighter and Tubbo and Ranboo seemed to have gone to bed. 

Siren appeared in Tommy’s view, and knelt next to Blade (he assumed) before coming over to him. He rested his hand against the red like he was waiting for a hand to meet his, then rested his forehead. 

‘So this is a protective force field since it didn’t let him in when he was trying to get in. But I control it. This is my doing. What if I say he can come in? Would that work? Would I be able to stop this?’

Tommy focused on cutting his energy off to Zephyrus like he was done healing. He focused on wanting to hug his friends, the relief he will feel when he can breathe again. Over and over he thought that until air assaulted his lungs. 

Tommy coughed but was laughing in relief. He was never staying that still again, in his life. All that time he didn’t know that he was still giving energy to Zephyrus and now he finally felt energy returning to him.

He sat up and immediately scanned Zephyrus’s wing and found him fully healed and breathing fine. Without stopping he went and checked Blade who still had a few burns but Tommy wasn’t about to start healing this soon after. Since he isn’t completely stupid.

“Tommy! Tommy, slow down. Everyone is fine now.” Siren said, giving him a half hug.

“Oh, hello. You have to be a level three friend to unlock hugging.”

“Oh uh. It’s just I am thankful for you healing my teammates.”

“Right… speaking of that, where are Tu… the other two?”

“Sleeping. At least I think it has been about a day and a half since the fight.”

“Shit! I had work and I wanted to bully Wilbur.”

“Your friends called you in and I am sure he will still be waiting for you when you do go back to work.”

“I think those two are going to be out for a while,” Tommy said gesturing towards the two sleeping forms, “And I am sure you have a secret identity to keep up so you can leave and we will take care of these two until they are healed.

“I don’t think anyone is going to miss my civilian identity with these two here. So can I just stay here and wait with them?”

“Sure, but you will have to deal with me bitch.”

“Fine by me gremlin.”

“I’m going to go jump on my friends if you want to come watch.”

“You're going to give them a heart attack. What if they think it is me or Blade and try to fight you? You’re still hurt.” Siren stated.

“Sounds like a future me problem.” With that, Tommy proceeded to jump on top of the duo. Siren watched from the doorway.

A pained oof came from the group the moment Tommy landed. Ranboo immediately teleported to the corner of the room, disoriented. Tubbo didn’t move he just laid there and from Siren's angle, he could see that Tubbo's eyes were open giving Tommy the biggest side eye ever, before he shoved Tommy off. Tommy who in turn just rolled back onto him.

“Tommy, I would recommend not pushing your luck. Especially after the freight you gave us last night.” Ranboo cut in.

“Nah he won’t do anything to me, for that exact reason,” Tommy said with false confidence.

“That’s it i’m getting Shroud,” Tubbo said, pushing Tommy off him and making a beeline to the bathroom before he could be stopped. 

“WAIT, NOOO, TUBBO PLEASE DON’T GET SHROUD. HE DOESN’T NEED TO BE INVOLVED.” Tommy looked around for a hiding spot before he paused and shouted, “ARE YOU EVEN TALL ENOUGH TO GET HIM BY YOURSELF?”

“TOMMY I KNOW FOR A FACT YOU DIDN’T JUST SAY THAT TO ME!” Was the only response.

“Bright idea Tommy to antagonize the person who is about to get the Shroud character.” Siren broke in with a grin.

“Siren, I need to ask you something. Where were the askers cause I know I didn’t ask.”

“Oh, now that’s just mean. Even I don’t deserve that.”

Tommy decidedly ignored Siren in favor of turning to Ranboo, “Can you teleport me to the cafe? I need to hide before he comes at me with that thing.”

“No, wait, actually I don’t want him chasing you around the apartment when there are injured villains here. Siren if he gets back before I do, he went out the window and I went after him.” Ranboo didn’t wait for an answer as he grabbed Tommy and left.

“BAD!” Tommy shouted into the cafe ignoring the judging stares he got. 

“TOMMY?” Bad shouted back before emerging from the kitchen. “I thought you were sick?”

“I was yesterday but I am better now. Do you need any help? I have too much energy from being bedridden yesterday?” Tommy fell into the lie easily. 

“Don’t you think if you were bedridden yesterday you probably should still be resting and not here working?”

“Nope! Now what can I do!” Tommy said, walking behind the counter to find his apron. 

“Well, Skeppy is on break right now so if you wanted you could run the counters and give him an extended break.”

“Perfect, they can’t bother me if I am working.”

“Tommy I know for a fact that they can. Especially with how many times I have had to kick them out for distracting you.”

“Lies, all lies. I can’t recall a single time that happened.” 

“It literally happened last week, Tommy.”

“Slander, seriously Bad I expected better from you. So sad.”

“Sure, so I guess you wouldn’t mind me calling Tubbo to let him know you are here?”

“Nope, actually don’t do that. You are correct Bad they can bother me while at work.”

“I will be in the back if you need anything. Skeppy will be out after his break to help you out.” Bad disappeared behind the kitchen door. 

The bell rang at the cafe door, drawing Tommy’s attention away from the conversation. The same trio that was there last time he worked walked/stumbled in, tripping over each other. Their names were like Sapmap, Karl, and Quacky, he thinks, but he knows what they ordered. His brain was weird like that.

“Hey, what can I get for you today? Same as last time?” Tommy politely asked them.

“You remember what we got last time?” Who Tommy thinks is Karl asked.

“Of course, you got 2 lemon macarons and a hot chocolate, 2 raspberry macarons, 2 chocolate macarons, and another hot chocolate and an abomination. I just don’t remember your names, I know you’re Karl and that’s about it.” He gestured to each in turn as he said their order.

“You’re an interesting kid, Tommy. Have you ever tried the quote-unquote abomination drink?” Beanie wearer said.

“Not a kid, and no since it’s common knowledge you don’t drink or try abominations.” Tommy made direct eye contact with Beanie Man as he said it. 

“Don’t judge  a book by its cover.” 

“That’s exactly what I do. If it doesn’t have a decent or pretty cover why read it? Or in your case try it.”

“Step out of your comfort zone, try something new. I don’t know.”

“Why are we having a deep metaphorical conversation over a coffee order?” Karl cut in.

“Because making that drink goes beyond my morals and I just got off bed rest so I think I have an excuse to not make it.”

“What are your morals then?”

“If you were on bed rest yesterday why are you even here?” Karl said at the same time as Beanie.

“Sorry, you have to be at least a level 4 friend to unlock morals. Bed rest is for weak people and I am a big man. Not even sickness can keep me down.” 

That is when the final guy Sapmap? Cut in and said, “As lovely as this conversation has been  I actually have somewhere to be so, can you just ring us up and make our drinks?”

“Wow, I think I know who woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Same total as last time $21.05.”

“Excuse him, he is just stressed with work.” Karl apologized.

“Well you're making me stressed about work and I'm not being a…” Tommy trailed off to stop from swearing at them not that he thought they would be upset about it. So he decided to take the high road like the big man he is and drop the subject. “I will have that out for you guys in a few minutes.”

“Here are your drinks, feel free to come by anytime!” Tommy told the trio before moving on, without a response. The cafe was in between busy times so he wanted to check his phone for news on the villains. Only to find that his pockets held nothing valuable to him. Great now he had his thoughts to keep him company or he could continue to suppress his feelings and thoughts and go bother Skeppy.

“OHHH SKEPPY!” Tommy said as he dashed through the break room door.

“I’m literally 5 feet in front of you. Why are you yelling?”

“Because it’s soo slow out there and I wanted to bother someone. So whatcha doing in here, besides letting me take over your shift.” 

“I am doing paperwork that will allow you to continue to work here.”

“Can we pull a prank on Bad or set one up for Tubbo when he inevitably comes and drags me back to the house.”

“Normally I would say yes but I really need to finish this work before I go home today. Sorry, Tommy.”

“Okayyy, I guess I will see what Bad is up to.” Tommy exited the room with a wave as he pushed the kitchen door open to reveal a busy Bad. Bad was just taking a tray of muffins out of the oven and placing them on a side counter. He went over and took one right out of the pan neglecting the fact that they were just pulled from the oven. 

“Owch, it’s hot.”

“Tommy, how many times will you do that and not learn your lesson?”

“I am thinking of a number between 5 and 27,” Tommy said thoughtfully as he looked at the muffin. It had been dropped once his nerves told his brain it was hot. 

“I should have banned you from coming back here after the first 5 times.” 

“Shoulda, woulda, coulda.”

“What does that even mean, Tommy?” 

“It explains itself Bad. Should have, would have, could have. It explains how you had the opportunity to do something but didn’t. In your case, banning me from the kitchen.” 

“Alright, Tommy. I think you have spent enough time back here. Go check to see if we have customers.”

“Fineee, I guess you don’t care about me enough if you're going to send me back out there.”

“I do care about you, Tommy.”

“Eww nope wasn’t expecting that response. Bye Bad.” Tommy bolted out of the kitchen, but not before grabbing the muffin.

He quietly ate his muffin while sitting on his phone. It was a slow day that left him with his thoughts. He kept replaying the last day and a half in his head. The one thing that stood out the most was his powers. Instead of the golden light that came from his powers now it was red. Deep down he knew something major had happened, even without the formation of the bubble. He was able to heal bigger wounds without much effect on him.

Maybe the library had a book on powers or something. Looks like he was making a trip to the closest library when he decided to leave since technically this was still Skeppy’s shift. 

“Skeppy, can I leave? I want to go to the library.”

“Since when are you interested in books? Let me finish this up, it should only be a few minutes.”

“I am offended, I am an avid reader and you just assumed that I’m not.”

“Sureee.”

—--

The closest library was about a 20-minute walk into the upper districts. Tommy enjoyed the walk, to say the least. He finally made it to the library and started to page through the different sections. On the last shelf, he found the section on the different powers. He grabbed a couple of general power books, to not seem suspicious about only looking at healing powers. 

There were a lot of interesting things about healing powers but none of the books mentioned a color change. They all said that the color of the aura always stays the same but is different from person to person. The book also explicitly states that no power can fully bring back the dead. ‘ If what Ranboo said was true about his heart stopping mid-healing. Did I bring Zephyrus back to life?’ There was a section on overusing powers and how to treat them but it was mostly rest. 

He checked his phone and found that he had multiple missed messages both from his roommates and Siren. All of them were asking where he was. Just to spite Tubbo and Ranboo he replied to Siren. 

The only response back he got was a three-letter word. That word was run. And he did just that. Granted he had a 10% chance of winning this since he had cafe working endurance compared to their vigilante endurance. Making it back to the apartment before they caught or better yet saw him was the goal. 

Tommy figured the duo would teleport to the library so the normal way home would be open. So he sprinted for it. About 10 minutes had passed with him just full-out running and watching the rooftops. That was also when his legs started to burn. 

A shadow flickered across the roof parallel to Tommy as he ran back to his apartment. Unbeknownst to Tommy that the shadow was there he continued on his way. 

Tommy plowed through the apartment door when he arrived and paused in the entryway. Siren stood on the other side of the room in a fighting stance. Siren was still wearing his mask but had put on some of Ranboos' extra clothes. Those being a pair of sweatpants and a shirt that said ‘I’m fruity what about it?’ and had some fruits on it.

(Calling someone homophobic so if you don’t like that skip the dialog (Start reading again “Actually why am I…”))

“Did I scare you? Also, I didn’t know you were part of the LGBTQIA+ community Siren.” 

“No, this is how I always stand. And this is your roommates doing.”

“Do you not support the community, big man? That's not very pog of you.”

“What, no I do I am a big supporter, I’m not homophobic.”

“Hmmm, I don’t know, it sounds like something a homophobic person would say.”

“Actually why am I defending myself to a child? I know and the people I care about know I’m not so…”

“That hurts, do you not care about me?”

“I care about you Tommy but like you are a child.”

“Okay, that got too deep for me. Moving on, how are Zeph and Blade?” Tommy pointedly dropped the conversation. 

“The same as earlier, neither have woken up.” Siren said concern back in his voice.

“Okay, shoo let me look,” Tommy said not giving Siren to move before shoving him lightly. 

Zephyrus was still on the floor and Blade was still on the couch. Tommy reached out and checked each of their pulses and got the same results. Next, he felt Blades back to see if the break was fully healed and it was. There was no reason from Tommy’s experience that he should still be out cold. Zephyrus was a little different since his heart stopped. 

Tommy went to check Zephyrus’s wings but paused, didn’t he read somewhere that Avians' wings are very sensitive and it's disrespectful to touch them without permission? He turned toward Siren who was yet again leaning against the wall watching him. Wings momentarily forgotten.

“Do you have a thing with walls or something? Every fucking time I have seen you here you are just constantly leaning on them and just creeply watching.”

“Wh-”

“Like actually, I healed you then like a minute later, wall. I am talking to my friends, wall. I am busy healing villains, wall. When you were sleeping in the closet for fucks sake you were slumped against the wall.” Tommy ranted, only then realizing actually how much Siren leaned on walls. 

“Okayy, child, I think you made your point. Leaning on the wall is fun and I don’t have to put as much effort in as I would standing.”

“I don’t care. Get off the wall and help with this. Do you know if I can touch his wings or if they are special and it would offend him?”

“Oh, uh, I forgot about that. What do you need to check with his wings?”

“I need to see if the skin is fully healed from the burns and the hole from that,” Tommy gestured to the debris laying way off to the side, “going through his wing is healed.”

Siren pushed off the wall and went over to the debris before picking it up. “This went through his wing!?”

“Yeah, but one of my friends pulled it out before I healed him.”

“Wait so let me get this straight, Blade broke his back and had multiple burns and Zephyrus had this through his wing and burns across them, not to mention that he died and then you revived him.” 

“Basically, also don’t ask how we managed that, you don’t want to know,” Tommy said being onimus. 

“Okayy that's not creepy at all, child. But I can check his wings.”

“Okay let me know if you find anything that concerns you I-”

The door burst open again that night and an angry Tubbo and Ranboo came in. “TOMMY MOTHERFUCKING INNIT!”

“Ooo looks like the child is in trouble.” Siren paused from checking the wings. 

“Shut.” Was the only response he received from the blonde. 

“Do you know how much you have made me worry the last day and a half? I walked through that door after the fight only to watch you COLLAPSE in that red sphere. I went to sleep not knowing if you were EVEN ALIVE . Then you just decide to jump on me and then have the guts to RUN AWAY. ” Tubbo said his voice emphasizing some words to get his point across. 

“I’m sorry Tubbo, I truly am. But you did threaten me with Shroud, to be fair.” Tommy said, rubbing the back of his neck. 

“If you do that again, Shroud will be the least of your worries, Tommy,” Tubbo said, reaching out to hug Tommy and pulling Ranboo with him. The group hug felt nice, and Tommy felt safe. But that was interrupted by Siren clearing his throat.

“Siren, we are having a moment you can wait,” Tubbo told him.

“I can see that though I hate to break it to you guys but Zephyrus still has a small hole in his wing.” 

“What?” Tommy broke out of the hug and went over to the wing Siren was looking at. Siren wasn’t lying, there was a hole the width of a finger through the wing that unless you were looking for it you would have missed it. 

“So I am just going to heal this now and we’re going to ignore what happened last time.” Tommy built his energy as the glow started again but paused once he saw it was back to the original color. Huh, odd but oh well.

He hovered his hand over the hole and let it fill in with skin, veins, muscle matter, and tissue. Once that was done he sat back against the couch and took a few breaths but that was all he needed. Siren was still just watching him like he wanted to say something but didn’t. Tommy returned the stare making note of how the mask rubbed against the top of Siren’s nose and created a spot that looked like it was rubbed raw. 

Guess that mask wasn’t made for long-term wear. 

The trio later retired to the bedroom and left Siren with his teammates. It was a comfortable silence before it was interrupted by Ranboo.

“So are we going to talk about your powers?”

“Depends on what you're asking. If it's about why that happened I have no idea. Do I think it will be fine, yes I think it will. Tonight they went back to normal, I think they just got stronger because I didn’t feel any headaches from healing.”

“Yes but why did that happen while you were healing Zephyrus? What was that red force field thing?”

“It was protecting me from the outside world and didn’t go away till I told it to. Like what Ranboo said about his heart stopping while I was healing him. I think I brought him back to life.”

“That's impossible, no one has ever had the power to do that before, only summon them and that’s extremely rare.”

“Well I am fucking tired so feel free to dwell on that but I am going to bed.” Tommy flopped onto their shared bed. 

Chapter Text

Tommy never caught Tubbo for putting Shroud on him. He just assumed that Shroud had moved on his own. The scream woke the whole apartment up and put the villains on edge. Once Siren found out that the reaction was over Shroud, he started laughing so hard his sides hurt and even Blade laughed a little. 

Zephryus was looking a lot better and could actually sit up and pay attention to the conversation. Siren and Blade had fully informed him what had happened. Tommy had done another healing session to fix the headache which turned out to be a concussion. Tommy again had no side effects of healing. 

“I think we have overstayed our welcome,” Zephryus spoke lightly with an air of authority.

“That's a correct observation,” Tubbo said sarcastically.

Siren was lying on the couch, his feet across Blade who was sitting up, when he butted in, “Most people when a guest says that assure them that they aren’t and tell them to stay as long as they want.” 

“What gave you the impression we are like most people? Most people would have left you to die or worse called the police,” Siren opened his mouth to speak but Tubbo shot him a glare, “The police might seem like the worst option but they are required by law to at least try to save you, to bring you into custody. Which would allow you time to make an escape attempt.”

Zephryus was nodding along with what Tubbo was saying and added, “There is no saving the dead, well normally, if you're in custody then there is still a chance.”

The room fell into solemn silence not addressing the fact that was true for most of them up until a few days ago. Tommy himself still didn’t believe that he could bring people back and that must have just been a streak of luck. As much as he wanted to see if that was true he never wanted to be in that position again, having one's life in his hands.

He was a resource, a tool in the wrong hands. If the hero organization even got a whiff that he could bring people back even just a rumor everything he knows would be gone. It was enough that he was a healer but one as strong as him was unheard of, thought to be impossible. But here he is standing in his rundown apartment looking at the man he resurrected. 

There have been no consequences from healing since he brought Zephyrus back. He wondered what the cost of this would be or if there would be one. After all, he doesn’t charge for his help. Though he probably should.

Tommy was lost in thought about the red sphere that had increased him, it was like a different world, time blended together. It had seemed like only a night to him but it had been a day and a half, not including the fact that he hadn’t needed to breathe while in it. That was a whole different issue added to the problem. 

“What do we owe ya mate,” Zephyrus drew Tommy out of his thoughts. 

“Normally I would say nothing but I think since this has become a weekly occurrence I think it would be in everyone's best interest if yall found a different spot for me to heal you guys,” Tommy responded before Siren or Blade could say nothing, “I will still heal you I just don’t want to here or my cafe.”

“So you’re saying that you will heal us for nothing, you just want a different building or area?” Zephyrus summed up.

Tommy looked at his roommates who were nodding behind him, “Basically, it’s too dangerous with you guys coming in and out and frequenting this area so much. The heroes will start getting suspicious. Especially since they are giving fatal wounds, that don't actually kill you now and two you’re back not even a few days later.” 

“Alright mate, that makes sense and at a reasonable price, basically a bargain, are you sure?”

“Yeah, just make sure you can make it there if you get hurt. I am not a fan of field calls, but I will if necessary,” Tommy looked between the three of them. 

“We will see what we can do, is that all?”

“Uhhh I would also like to be able to heal anyone that I deem there. Whether that be a vigilante, villain, or hero,” Tommy boldly stated. 

The trio shared a few glances in the form of nonverbal conversation before Zephyrus replied, “I don’t know if that is possible mate. That would compromise the location and risk our identities.”

Tommy sighed knowing that it had been a long shot to ask anyway, he would have to find a spot to heal on his own or continue with the cafe for the vigilantes. His mind was preoccupied as the villains left through the window. 

—-----

Tubbo flopped onto the now unoccupied couch and let out the loudest longest sigh the trio had heard. “What has our life come to? I thought that the most complicated would be Ran and I being vigilantes but we just had the top three in our apartment for an extended amount of time.”

Tommy looked sheepishly at Tubbo, rubbing the back of his neck slightly. “So I didn’t know that's what you two were doing when I started healing villains and vigilantes.”

“You say that toms but would that have stopped you from healing them?” Ranboo questioned.

That stopped Tommy in his tracks. It was a good question, a very good one. If he had known that they were vigilantes would he have left Siren there? He probably would have brought him to the cafe, right? Or would it have changed the whole trajectory of his life and he might not even be here right now?

“Think that it would have changed a few of my decisions relating to them but overall I would still have healed them,” Tommy spoke confidently. 

Ranboo nodded satisfied with the answer, “Do you think that they will get a building for you to heal them in?”

“I want to believe that they will since it is the only thing that I have asked for and it greatly benefits them too. Especially since it will allow me to heal them with a lower risk. The part I am unsure about is the healing vigilantes. I could always pull that I already do heal them and it’s the same risks but like I could just keep doing what I am.”

Ranboo just shrugged, “I don’t think that they would have an issue with you doing that. I think it’s mainly the fact that they might be the ones hurting the vigilantes so they wouldn’t want you to fix what they did.” 

“Hmmm, true true, I didn’t think of that.” 

“Ran want to go patrol with me? We haven’t been out for a few days since the villains were here,” Tubbo cut in at the break of conversation.

“Sure, it’s bound to be busy then since they will have taken advantage of us being absent. Tommy, you want to be on standby?”

Tommy nodded and watched the two change into their normal outfits and gather their weapons. The duo was out the window in no time leaving Tommy on the couch with an open discord call and a bag of chips. Which only left him with one option and that was to ask them the most random questions.

“On a scale from one to ten, how much do you like spaghetti?” 

“Ten! Will and have put it in anything!” Ranboo eagerly responded.

“Five, will eat it and enjoy it when served normally, not in a cake,” Tubbo said with much less excitement. 

“How many people have you kicked in the shins?”

“Like 2?”

“All time or just tonight?”

“Both,” Tommy asks curiously if Tubbo had an actual count. 

“All time 921 tonight 25.”

“You have an issue…” Ranboo quietly whispered.

“Want me to make it one more?” Tommy heard what he assumed was Tubbo standing up.

“Nope, no thanks, my shins and I are good.” 

“Moving on, what’s your opinion on dolphins?”

There was a pause and then from Tubbos mic there was a quiet, “What the fuck Tommy.”

“It’s a serious question. I need to know if you support their bloodthirsty tendencies!” Tommy defended his question.

“Of course not! They seem so cute but they are the abominations on the way they can act.”

“Good good… Ran?” 

“I think there is a robbery happening in that convenience store.”

“Perfect I was getting bored.”

“Hey! What about my questions?!” The only response he got was the sound of boots on gravel and fast breathing. He could hear their feet crunching broken glass he assumed as they entered the store. 

He couldn’t tell what noise was coming from what call since they were lit up constantly relaying the sounds of the fight to Tommy. It put him on edge not knowing if they were okay or not.

Which is why he noticed when there was a gunshot and Tubbos call hung up cutting the fighting noise in half. A few minutes later Ranboos's warped voice cut through as he shouted Bee just before his call ended too. Tommy just stared at his phone in his shaking hands. Praying that it will light back up with one of them calling and explaining the whole situation. Spoiler alert, it didn’t. 

The logical part of his brain was telling him that they probably just lost signal or their mics got destroyed. The other more mother hen part was telling him that something awful happened and he won’t see them again. It was also running through all the worst possible scenarios that he didn’t even want to entertain. 

Fuck it, if they weren’t back in an hour he was going to find them. It didn’t matter that he was inexperienced. He went to his closet and pulled out one of Ran's old plain black masks, fingerless gloves, his black cargo pants with lots of pockets, and a plain black long-sleeve. He didn’t really know what to wear, just that he might have to cover his face. When his phone lit up with a message he all but sprung at his phone to open it. 

Bee Boi:  ME and ender are Perfectly fine, don’t come Looking for us. be back before morning. Go to sleEp count the sHeep. count backwards it helps. don’t gamble our money away, ask for help.

So that wasn’t cryptic at all. First of all, it was spelled perfectly which in itself doesn’t happen. Word games, great. Tubbo should have known he was shit at these. Tommy quickly found a notepad and pencil concerned for his friends. 

He scribbled down everything that stuck out to him. The capital letters the gambling and asking for help are both things he doesn’t do. His paper looked like a puzzle that he had to solve.

ME PLEH

Gambling? Ask for help. Count sheep? Backwards?

HELP EM-ME

Tommy paused staring at the letters, thoughts running in his head making it hard to concentrate. He just started scribbling words down before settling on, help me. It had to be the only solution. But what did he mean by gambling and asking for help?

Tommy pulled at his hair trying to figure it out faster, his friend's lives were probably depending on him. What if he couldn’t save them, what then? Who would he have left? No one, he would be alone. What about Wilbur? He would care, right? Why was he so focused on himself? His friends needed him and here he was sitting doing nothing.

Chapter Text

Tubbo pov-

My attention turned downwards to where Ranboo was pointing at the convenience store. The glass door was shattered and all over the ground. From what he could see there were 3 people moving between the shelves. Shouldn’t be that hard, they’ve gone against worst odds. 

Tubbo had stopped listening to Tommy after Ran noticed the store but he heard Tommy complain about his questions before fully blocking him out. He signaled for Ender to go after the one on the right and he would take the two on the left. The duo split and quickly engaged in combat.

The two stood in front of Tubbo both taller and bigger than him. One had a gun while the other had a bat. The minute they saw him they dropped everything but their weapons and ran at him. Tubbo evaluated his options before backing out of the aisle and jumping out of the way. He could hear Ender fighting somewhere to his right but it sounded like more than two people, weird. 

He focused back in on his fight as the one with the gun leveled it at his chest and shot. The bullet caught him in the left shoulder with enough force to drop him from his feet. The pain blinded him and his ears were ringing from the shot. He knew he had to get up, he knew his and Rans life were at risk. He needed to get up. Blood was staining his shirt and creating a pool under him.

The wind was knocked out of him as one of the robbers laid a kick to his ribs and then another. He felt two of his ribs collapse after the third kick. Blood was draining out of the hole in his shoulder and he could barely breathe.

The only thing he knew was that he had to stay awake but it was so hard, the darkness calls him. The kicks stopped then shortly after a hand felt his wrist he assumed for a pulse but was quickly dropped. The sound of grunts of pain and more yelling started again as he assumed Ranboo was trying to get to him. He only hoped that it was the robbers who were in pain and not Ranboo. At this point, he was barely conscious and sounds were blending together. 

He didn’t want to die but then he wouldn’t be in pain anymore. There was so much he wanted to do still. He wanted to be sitting on the couch with Tommy and Ranboo watching movies and making jokes, not laying a pool of his blood, in a nothing convenience store. He hadn’t even made it to 18 in this fucked up world.

The last thing he heard before he lost consciousness was the sound of more gunshots.

Ranboo pov-

Tubbo took the two on the left and Ranboo took the one on the right. They threw the first punch the minute they saw Ender. He blocked and they went on trading blow for blow. There was a shuffle behind him and he teleported behind his original opponent. In front of him were 3 men dressed in full black attire, two had regular face masks on and the third had a ski mask. The two with regular face masks had guns and the ski mask held no weapon but hands were glowing a faint green. 

That was Ranboos cue to get Tubbo and leave. He teleported to the other side of the store just as he heard a gunshot. He didn’t know if it was from the trio he left behind or Tubbo. He reappeared where he and Tubbo split. He peeked out from the aisle and could see someone on the ground. In the darkness, he couldn’t make out who it was. 

Someone grabbed him from behind trying to strangle him but he slammed his back into the shelves causing them to lose their grip. One well-placed punch had them nocked out. He creeped out and around the isle towards the shape on the ground. 

Dread washed over him as he got closer and could make out the goggles and brown gas mask with nuclear symbols painted on. His eyes trailed down and saw a hole in the left shoulder of the now stained jacket and a dark pool under him.

He quickly stepped forward and crouched next to Tubbo and tried to listen for breathing or a pulse. His hands were shaking as he felt Tubbos wrist, it was faint but still there. There was another noise towards the back of the store as the robbers found the duo. 

Ranboo felt himself being dragged off of Tubbo and dropped to the floor. The group laid kick after kick, punch after punch, into him. He should just teleport out of there but he can’t leave Tubbo. What about Tommy though, if they both die here? There was a click of a gun was the only warning before the shot came. 

He braced waiting for the bullet to tear into his flesh but instead, the group above him started yelling and dropping to the ground next to him as more shots rang out. Pain enveloped his body from the beating. 

Rough hands pulled him to his feet and started dragging him towards the door, “BEE!” He struggled in their grasp to get to Tubbo but they continued to drag him, “BEE! NO, STOP,” his feet struggled to get any grip on the blood-slick floor. He got an arm free then both and scrambled to get a grip on Tubbo. 

His hand locked on the combat jacket and he could feel Tubbos phone in the pocket. With one hand he pocketed it as they pulled him off Tubbo. His strength was gone as they pushed him into a black van with white a pixelated smile on the side door. 

Ranboo felt himself fading in and out as he opened Tubbos' phone and typed a message to Tommy. There were many things he wanted to say, hell he didn’t even know if Tubbo was still alive.

Chapter Text

Tommy went to work like it was a regular day. That is what he would’ve done if he knew where his best friends were and they hadn’t just disappeared last night. Now, he is sitting in his living room watching the news from last night. 

“ Local convenience store was robbed last night by a group of 5. All were found dead on site, camera footage suggests that the vigilantes called Ender and Nuke were on site. However, a third party shows up. It is unclear if the vigilantes made it out or not, police say that there is a spot where there should have been another body but it was removed. We have received a brief clip from security footage, though the sound is muted...”

The clip playing is very grainy and hard to see but it plays a video of a group of people kicking at someone on the ground then bright flashes. The group drops to the ground and two people walk in and grab whoever was on the ground and start pulling them away. It shows them struggling and getting free and going over to a dark patch in the footage, before getting dragged out the door. The camera switches to one outside and shows the person getting pushed into the van with a white pixel smile on the door before the footage goes to static.

“The police believe that the one that got pulled into the van to be vigilante Ender and that dark spot he went to to be his injured partner Nuke. Though the footage makes it hard to see, it is in the general location where police believe there should have been a body. Anyone with any information is asked to step forward on behalf of the police force and hero agency.”

So basically Tubbo is probably dead and Ranboo is kidnapped. At least he knew that much, now he just had to figure out who that logo belongs to. He knows it's not the Syndicate or any of the heroes. Is it another villain group? Is it another vigilante group? He could have sworn that he had seen it before. He resorted to Google.

Pixel smile logo?

A black van with a white smile on it?

Vigilante groups in this area?

Villain groups near me?

What has a pixel-white smile as a logo?

If someone saw his whole search history there would be questions. The only thing that he was getting was the recent article and clip from last night about the robbery. Tommy knew the odds were getting smaller of getting them back the longer it took. What was it the police say? After 48 hours they are looking for a body, well he might already be looking for one. 

It was about midday before he set his phone down and decided to eat something, not that it even tasted good. He needed to clear his head, take a new angle at this problem. What he wanted to do was go down to the convenience store and look for evidence but the police will have it locked down. The message told him to ask for help but who could he ask, there was Wilbur but he didn’t need to get involved in this. The syndicate owed him, so he could ask them. What if they were the ones who took Ranboo, not even knowing?

Tommy started pacing the apartment thinking before he decided to go on a walk would be good and clear his head. Midway through the walk he remembered that he had been scheduled to work the morning shift and completely missed it. Before he knew it he was at the cafe greeting Bad who was as cheerful as ever despite the situation. 

“Hey, guys. Sorry about missing my shift I completely missed my alarm and just woke up,” Tommy bullshitted an excuse that he was sure they could see right through. 

“You’re good Tommy! It was a slow morning so it worked out! If you want you can pick up now till close but if you have plans it’s fine,” Bad tilted his head towards the backroom but paused and squinted at Tommy. “What happened to your neck?”

Tommy froze briefly, he had completely forgotten about the cut in the chaos of everything. “Oh you know, big man, just the casual mugging nothing I couldn’t handle.”

“TOMMY WHAT THE FUCK,” Skeppy could be heard yelling through the kitchen door. This was the only warning the two got before Skeppy shoved the door open and lightly but forcefully grabbed Tommy’s head to look closer and the cut. 

“Language! Tommy, that's not something to be so casual about! You could have died!” Bad said joining Skeppy in looking at Tommy’s neck. 

Tommy batted their hands away softly and tucked his chin down so they couldn’t see the red anymore, “I know, I know. But I gotta cope somehow and I chose humor at a very young age,” he shrugged, “Now can we please move on? I need a distraction.”

Bad and Skeppy exchanged a look then Bad let out a defeated sigh like he just lost everything, “Fine but we’re keeping an eye on you.” 

Tommy nodded and started to head back to grab his apron. Wondering how he got out of that encounter so easily. Normally the two would make him sit or go back home if he looked even the littlest bit sick. Claiming that it was for the customer's health.

“How are Ranboo and Tubbo? I haven’t seen them around recently,” Skeppy asked as Tommy walked back.

“Oh you know, out doing their own thing. I will tell them to stop in soon,” Tommy felt sick to his stomach but still went and got ready for the shift. 

Tommy would be lying if he said that everything was normal at the cafe. First of all, he was off and he was sure his regulars knew it too. Bad and Skeppy asked if he was okay every hour it seemed like. Not to mention that he had been missing work a lot recently because of healing villains. 

The bell rang and in walked the trio that had become what Tommy considers regulars. They were in their normal get-ups, hoodies, Nike pros, and pants. Quackity had his hat on as always, the maroon with a gold smile one. Which if Tommy had to guess was his favorite, next to a navy Adidas hat. 

He ran through the motions of their order before he finally realized where that smile was from. It was literally on Quackity’s hat. Tommy smiled for the first time that day as he finished their order and got ready to bring it out to them.

“Hey, quick question Quackity. Where is that hat from or stands for? I notice that you rarely take it off,” Tommy said in what he hoped was a casual voice.

“Oh uhh, I ordered it online and it's just very comfortable,” Quackity stuttered an answer.

Tommy shrugged, “Nice, enjoy your drinks! Let me know if you need anything.”

There was something up with how Quackity stuttered and tensed up when he asked, even Sapnap and Karl did, too. So it wasn’t like getting put on the spot and getting nervous. 

He went and washed up the tables that customers left with crumbs or drops of coffee on them. One table was next to the trio and he did try to listen to their conversation but they switched it up whenever he got close. Another thing that made him suspicious.

Once the trio left the cafe was empty since Bad and Skeppy decided to ditch him, not that he was complaining. He pulled his notebook paper out of his pocket unfolded it on the counter and reread it over and over. He realized that there was one thing he didn’t look up and that was the gambling part. What does that have to do with anything?

He pulled his phone out and typed out: Casino logos near me

Tommy clicked into the images and the very first image was the block smile that Quackity had been wearing. It belonged to a casino called Las Nevadas that was run by an anonymous figure. The heroes had tried to take it down a while ago but couldn’t. He should have already heard of this he feels like. 

So Ranboo for sure got kidnapped by Las Nevadas and Tubbo well, they might have him too. 

“Tommy!” an obnoxious voice said right next to him, causing him to jump, “What are you looking at?”

A head of brown fluffy hair blocked his view of his phone. Tommy quickly pulled it to his side and put his phone away. “You prick! Don’t sneak up on me like that, I might punch you next time.”

“So you want to tell me why you are looking into Las Nevadas? I didn’t take you to be a gambler, Tommy. Much less old enough,” Wilbur leaned his chin on his hand.

“No reason,” Tommy bluntly said, hoping that Wilbur would get the idea. 

Wilbur gave him a weird look before ordering his death coffee to go. “I know that it’s not nothing Tommy. I am here if you want to talk about it.”

“What could you possibly know about Las Nevadas?”

“More than you.”

Tommy dragged a hand down his face and let out a sigh, maybe Wilbur wasn’t as innocent as he thought. “Fine, my roommates went for a walk last night and didn’t make it home and I think they are behind it.”

“Damn, what did they do to piss off Las Nevadas?”

“I have no idea, just that they were walking and in the security footage they are being pulled into a van with a white pixel smile,” Tommy threw his hands up frustrated with the whole situation.

“So there is little question about that being Las Nevadas…” Wilbur trailed off, “Could I see the footage.”

“Uhh no it was deleted soon after I saw it,” he lied, not exactly wanting to give away Ranboo and Tubbo’s identities. 

“I should have expected that to be honest, they are nothing but thorough.”

“How do you know so much about them anyway?”

“Well, my dad does business with them every once and a while. I don’t even know why he bothers with how sketchy that place is.”

“So you’re telling me that your father does business with the people who took my roommates?”

“Pretty much. Though I have probably said too much on the matter already. Also, I am going to take a random guess that your friends had something to do with that robbery last night?” Wilbur raised an eyebrow at Tommy.

“Maybe maybe not, I don’t know,” he returns Wilbur's look. 

“I would love to help you, but this is Las Nevadas, a villain/vigilante organization. I don’t think I would be much help. The most I can offer is a hug and emotional support,” Wilbur set the death drink down and opened his arms.

“How can you not help more? If your dad does business with them sometimes doesn’t that mean you have an in? Also what kind of business is it that he has to deal with a villain/vigilante organization?” Tommy quizzed, starting to get mad.

“I can't. I am just a civilian but I could probably get you in contact with someone who could help. But like it’s a big hear me out kinda thing,” Wilbur's arms dropped against his side.

Tommy raised an eyebrow at that, “Who?”

“That I can’t say here but meet them here at midnight. I don’t know if they will show up but if they do then you get your help. Just promise not to call the police.”

“Wilbur, what the fuck are you getting at?”

“They aren’t exactly legal around here.”

“You know what I will just find out if they get here. I promise I won’t call the cops. Just know I will have more questions for you tomorrow.”

“You always do, child. Now I gotta get going cya,” Wilbur walked out before Tommy could smack Wilbur for calling him a child.

—--------

Tommy was sitting on top of the cafe with his feet dangling off the ledge. He had closed the cafe a few hours ago and had nothing better to do. He didn’t want to go home since it just felt empty and wrong without his friends. You don’t realize how much you take for granted until it's gone. 

The breeze was cool as it blew between the buildings rustling his hair. The street lamps cast an orange glow on the street below him. His feet brushed the building as he lightly swung them back and forth. It was really peaceful just him and the outdoors. He knew it wouldn’t last, nothing good does.

He laid on his back and watched the stars and clouds go past in the wind. While the roof wasn’t that comfortable the night made up for it. Tommy could feel himself drifting off as he relaxed. If he wasn’t waiting for an unknown person he would have let himself fall asleep.

As if on cue the sound of footsteps echoed through the calm street. Tommy sighed and sat up, looking to spot the person. His eyes caught on movement halfway down the street. A figure was weaving through the building's shadows towards him. 

The figure was short but moved surely and fast. When they passed a street light it revealed a maroon color beanie, a matching dress shirt, and black fancy pants. So this fucker had money.

Tommy sat on the roof and watched him approach wondering if the guy would notice him on the roof. He peered over the edge as the guy walked up to the front of the cafe and knocked on the glass. Contemplating his choices, waiting till the guy notices, or calling out or throwing something. Sadly the choice was made for him.

“So whatcha doing?” A voice said in his ear.

“WHAT THE FUCK,” Tommy would have fallen off the roof had a hand not grabbed him. 

“Ace I found him,” Guy 2 said, still holding onto Tommy.

“Get off me,” Tommy pushed Guy 2 just as Guy 1-Ace got to the roof. 

“That’s no way to treat someone who just saved you from falling off a roof,” Guy 2 said, acting as if the push hurt. 

“Sure it is, especially after they are the reason for almost falling in the first place.”

“Touche, kids got a fair point there,” Ace nodded, “anyway I was told that I should meet you here to discuss some business. I’m Ace and this is my friend Rewind.”

“Tommy, and you have my friends,” he smiled at the two.

“Well that escalated quickly,” Ace dragged a hand down his mask-covered face, “Okay, I will start by saying this, you're going to have to clarify who your friends are as there are a lot of people in and out of our organization. Some in more legal ways and others not so much.”

“I don’t know just the vigilante's Ender and Nuke, y’know went missing last night and Ender was taken in a van with your logo on it.”

“Fuck, of course, it was those two. Couldn’t have been a regular person or a misunderstanding and given me an easy night,” Ace exclaimed.

“So like can I have them back I am quite fond of them,” Tommy prompted. 

“You see I would but I can’t do that. I’ve got a lot betting on them.”

“The fuck you mean you have a lot betting on them. They’re people, not some object!”

“Tommy I can tell you have no experience in this world and a word of advice is to stay out of it. Your friends are alive for now but once the next person gets them I can’t say that.”

“Fuck you, if you have so much power just let them go.”

“But then that would be bad for business, got some high payers for them. Tell ya what Tommy, I like you, you have spirit. If they just so happened to not make it to their final destination, after we’ve exchanged the money then well that's not my fault,” Ace looped an arm around Tommy’s shoulders, “especially since you found out by yourself and we were never here and you happened to sneak in and overhear us. Two days from now at this time in District 3. Be there if you want to see your friends again. Do not and I mean it disrupt the trade. Hit the car after we are gone.”

“So you're telling me you’re selling my friends but am good with me rescuing them but only after you get your money and leave?” Tommy felt anger coiling in his gut as Ace explained this, arm wrapped around his shoulders. He was looking at the man who kidnapped and is going to sell Ranboo and Tubbo and he can’t do anything. 

Rewind stepped forward, “When we agreed to this we didn’t know that Ender and Nuke were kids much less your friends. Las Nevadas has a strict no-harm policy on kids. We wanted to let them go but can’t as our credibility and the whole organization is on the line.”

“You claim to have straight, good morals, and yet you are breaking them at the slightest pressure to your group. Also what the fuck do I have to do with this, you said much less your friends implying that you wouldn’t have touched them had you known they were connected to me.”

Ace retracted his arm from Tommy’s shoulders, “We might seem like the bad guys right now but you will find worse people than us in the world. As for what you have to do with this, well, you’re more connected than you think. See you in two days.”

As fast as they came they were gone giving Tommy no chance to ask more questions or demand more answers. The only positive was that he could assume that Ranboo and Tubbo were still alive. He sat back down on the roof, the prior peace ruined but the meeting. All he got were more unanswered questions, ranging from his involvement and how Ranboo and Tubbo were doing. 

What condition were they in? Were they being tortured for information? Did Ace take their masks off and that's how he knew? Will they have to flee the districts? How was he so connected to Las Nevadas? Was this because of the Syndicate? What if they are the ones buying Ranboo and Tubbo for leverage against him? What does Wilbur have to do with this? Tommy smacked himself in the head lightly to stop the questions.

He probably is going to have to fight in two days for his friends' lives and he is very unprepared. Tommy knew his best option would be asking the Syndicate for help but he didn’t know if they were involved. His gut was telling him to trust them but his brain was saying that they are villains and he should have known this would happen. Now he has no one.

Tommy paused his degrading thoughts just long enough for one reasonable one to show itself. What reason did he have to stop trusting the Syndicate? He pondered that one for a minute before concluding that it would just be because of their hobby, being villains. They’ve done nothing to hurt him, besides a knife to the neck. But that's reasonable though it does hurt when he turns his head. Not to mention he doesn’t even think that Nuke and Ender have even encountered the Syndicate or disrupted any of their missions.

There is no logical reason for them to want to take Ender and Nuke. So he could probably ask them for help. The breeze picked up turning the air cooler not that Tommy noticed he was too focused. As much as he knew he should leave and start making preparations he couldn’t bring himself to.

He laid back against the roof and sprawled his arms to either side of himself, eyes closed, and felt the breeze blow his hair in and out of his face. Never in a million years would Tommy have thought that he would be laying feet dangling off a building appreciating the fresh air. He should do this more often. 

When he opened his eyes the sky was an orangish pink color. Fuck he fell asleep. Despite sleeping on a roof Tommy felt more rested than he had in the last few months. He lay there for a few more minutes before standing up and stretching out and cracking his bones. He might feel rested but his old man joints ache. 

Patting his pockets trying to locate his phone, which he found in his back pocket. Hit the power button and it stayed black-screened. It was funny that he thought that it wouldn’t be dead. It doesn’t even normally make it through the day because of how old it is. Hopefully, no one needed him last night.

Tommy went back down to the cafe after climbing down the ladder now that he could see it in the daylight it looked like a death trap. How it didn’t collapse under his weight amazed him. Every few steps the rungs rusted and the metal flaked off. The whole thing was a rusty color of red. 

Once he got into the cafe he went in search of his backup phone charger that he keeps there. He plugged it in and sat in one of the booths waiting till it hit one percent to turn it on, like one does. The time read 6:04 AM. About an hour before the coffee shop opened. 

Chapter Text

Ranboo cracked his eyes open expecting to be in his bed in the apartment snuggled against either Tubbo or Tommy. Most of the time it would have been Tubbo since he is the more clingy one of the two, but Tommy has his moments. Opening his eyes, it was pure black. Oh wait, his mask was still on his face, and it had moved up to cover his eyes. After adjusting his mask, he was met with a dim, small room that had no light. The only light was one in the hallway bleeding through the gaps in the bars. The walls were made of stone, making him think that they were below ground. 

He shakily pulled himself up to a sitting position and felt the walls against the bed had divots in them. Little lines scraped into the stone in a neat line, then a line slashed through the 4 straight ones. In total he found 10 full ones and another that had 3, 53 days he assumed. As he felt for more lines his body started to ache, he pulled his sleeves up and his arms were covered in faint bruises not yet formed. At least he was still alive. Ranboo stood up and walked two feet before falling, with a grunt he caught himself with a flailing hand against the bed and didn't bother to get up. 

Where was Tubbo? Did he make it? I said Bee instead of Nuke. I messed up. Did anyone who heard that survive? Of course they heard! Was Tubbo in a cell too? Could he yell? Then whoever it was would know he was awake? Was it worth it? Did they see his face? Did they know who they are? Did they find Tommy? Are they going to kill us? 

“NUKE, ARE YOU HERE?” Ranboo shouted through his hoarse voice. The sentence echoed through the hallway, mockingly unanswered. 

His chest tightened, the air refusing to enter his lungs no matter how hard he tried to breathe. Inhale. Exhale. Why wasn’t it working? He clutched his sides, trying to make sense of it all, hands trembling. The mask he needed to take the mask off to breathe. No, he couldn’t, doing that would reveal his identity . His heartbeat pounded in his chest almost in his throat, unrealistically fast. Ranboo pressed his hands against his temples, it felt like the walls were closing in on him. Going to crush him to a pulp. 

He didn’t know when he closed his eyes, but when he reopened them Tommy was in front of him. Tommy reached down and hugged him.

“What are 5 things you can see?”

“You, my hands, the bed, the light, bars.”

“What are 4 things you can feel?”

“My clothes, ground, your arms, um hair.”

“What are 3 things you can hear?”

“You, breathing, footsteps.”

“What are 2 things you can-

“What is 1 thing you can-

Ranboos' breath slowly returned to normal as he calmed down. When he reopened his eyes, he expected to see Tommy sitting next to him hugging him, but no one was there. It had all been Ranboo imagining Tommy being there. While he was disappointed that Tommy wasn’t there with him, he was glad he wasn’t. With already damp sleeves he wiped his face of snot and tears before trying to stand up. 

This time he was able to make it to the bars and use them to support his weight while looking over the hallway. The lock on the doors didn’t seem too complicated and he could probably pick it with the right materials. Wait, he could just teleport out. He imagined the apartment and wanted to go there before releasing his power. He was still in the cell. Again, same result. After five tries he sat back on the bed against the wall, defeated. So there goes that option, and there wasn’t anything in the cell to pick a lock with, so that was gone too.

First he had to figure out if Tubbo was alive, then make a plan based on that, because his condition will determine a big part of the plan. All he could do for now was sit and wait to see what his kidnapper wanted. Soon he fell back into a restless sleep. 

The sound of metal scraping against metal woke him up as the door to his cell was slid open. In the dim lighting, Ranboo could make out a figure dressed in a purple hoodie and black pants. The hood was pulled up, casting a shadow across their face, making it hard to see what mask they had on, but their eyes had a faint purple glow to them. 

“Are you going to come out or do I have to go in there?” Their muffled voice said from outside the cell as they held a pair of handcuffs in their opposite hand. So they were wearing a mask. Given their voice, they also sounded to be in their early 20s, maybe. 

Ranboo blinked, looking at them slightly surprised that he had a choice, but still didn’t want to find out. Not taking his eyes off the person, Ranboo stood up slowly, now standing, he could see that they were shorter than him by a few inches. They were probably just shorter than Tommy was. 

They must have gotten impatient because they stepped into the cell and grabbed his right wrist, then his left, snapping them into the handcuffs. With a sigh they pulled him behind them by the handcuffs at a brisk pace. Ranboo struggled to keep up with them while also trying to focus where they were going. After the first 6 turns, he lost track and started paying attention to the cells.

Most were empty, though a few here and there contained a rough looking person. Some twitched and had a crazed look in their eyes or lunged at the bars as the duo passed by. It wasn’t like there were that many cells, it was just many turns and a security door. There was no sign of Tubbo as they passed the last set. 

Another turn then up a set of stairs led them to a fancy hallway that was decorated in reds and golds. Their pace didn’t slow till they approached the 3rd door on the right. The purple person stopped and knocked three times, paused, then once more before pushing it open. 

The room itself screamed money if the whole building didn’t already. In the center there was a coffee table and four cushion chairs surrounding it. On the table there was a fancy tea set that was probably a decoration only. Back behind the table, there was a wooden desk that the whole surface was covered in paper and pens. Two giant windows were centered on the desk between them. On the left wall there were a bunch of bookshelves filled with old and new books. On the right wall there was a giant map of all the districts zoomed in with all the street names. 

Sitting at the desk was a short man, appearing to be in his early 20s. He wore a navy blue beanie that had jet black hair spilling out of it. His hair brushed behind his shoulders. Contrasting to the navy blue hat, the rest of the man's outfit was black, shirt, pants, shoes, and suspenders. His hands were collapsed up under his chin, that was resting on his hands, watching him. A regular everyday mask covered the lower half of his face.

“So I bet you want to know why you’re here, Ender.”

Ah, so he's doing the classic god awful villain speech on why he’s better than everyone. Ranboo just nodded.

“I am Ace, the leader of Las Nevadas organization. Need someone killed, kidnapped, found, or a safe place, this is the place. Which leads to you, normally I don’t interfere with vigilantes and everything, but the offer was too good to pass up,” Ace stood up, leaning on the desk as he talked, “You won’t be harmed here unless you initiate it. I don’t want to know who you are. All I know is that you are either early 20s or late teens, that's it. Your mask has been left on since you put it on yesterday.”

Ranboo just stood there wringing his fingers together, unsure if he believed what this Ace guy was saying. So he doesn’t have to worry about physical harm here as long as he does as they say and not try anything. Though, what does Ace mean by the offer was too good to pass up? He still didn’t know about where Tubbo was nor did the guy bring it up. 

“Where is Nuke? Why can’t I teleport?”

“He is in the infirmary healing after the fight. He will live.” Ace briefly responded looking distracted, “We had to take his gear off to save him. You have to understand that we had no choice, it was that or death. I know he isn’t an adult yet. To answer your second question, we infused the walls of those second cells with the power damping energy that the hero tower uses.”

They knew what Tubbo looked like. Ranboo felt his breath quicken again, threatening to close his throat. Stamping the panic down, he had to keep his composure. How did they manage to get their hands on that material?

“Can I see him?” The cells can wait, he has to see Tubbo.

Ace nodded and waved a hand dismissing him and purple guy. Similar to the way from his cell, there were way too many turns to keep track of at the pace they were walking at. His strength had returned over the last hour and didn’t struggle as much to keep up. Finally, the purple guy pushed a door open revealing a stark white room.

Ranboo should have been expecting that because of all the stereotypical plain white hospitals that burned your eyes. He was expecting it to match the red and gold theme going on and wasn’t pleasantly surprised. Blinking in the bright hospital lights, he could make out what seemed to be a reception desk, then a long hallway with 6 rooms, three on each side, then swinging restaurant kitchen doors. 

The women sitting at the desk greeted them politely before sending them to room 4. Ranboo felt butterflies in his stomach as they got closer to Tubbo's door. He knew his condition wouldn’t be pretty, but he didn’t know if he could handle seeing Tubbo injured this badly. The purple guy pushed the door open, and in they went.

There were a few framed pictures on the light blue walls, a few chairs sat in the corners. Tubbo was lying on his back in the bed with many machines hooked up to him. As Ace said his outfit had been removed, from the top up. His shirt was off and displayed the bandages wrapped around his torso and left shoulder. There were more around his hands that had red spots where his knuckles were. 

Ranboo was at his side in a minute and hovering above Tubbo's. He wanted to hug him but didn't know the damage it would cause. He elected to lay his hands over one of Tubbos. As he did so, the cuffs rattle against each other. Tubbos' hands were dry in contrast to the sweaty sheen that was on his face. Ranboo moved one hand to Tubbos' face but was restricted by the cuffs and had to move both.

“His form says that he has two broken ribs and four more fractured, a concussion, split knuckles, gunshot wound to the upper left chest missing his heart by three inches. Then lots of scrapes and bruises. Currently, he's sedated to help the healing process, you’re lucky he’s here.” The purple guy read off the form on the bottom of the bed. 

Three inches down and Tubbo would be gone. Three inches higher it would have missed. If they hadn’t taken them, would he or Tubbo still be alive? Ranboo liked to think they would have made it back to the apartment but even he knew that was false hope. As Ranboo stared down at Tubbo, he finally looked like he was resting, no frown or pained expression lay across Tubbo's face. 

“Alright, I have things to do, c’mon,” purple guy directed Ranboo out of the room to his dismay. Then began the journey back to the cell through the twisting hallways.

Tubbo–

Bright white lights flashed in and out of focus. He couldn’t tell if it was because his eyes were blinking or he was moving that fast. People were yelling at each other on both sides of him. Though he couldn’t make out any of what they were saying, it was like there was cotton in his ears. Everything was fuzzy, he couldn’t move. Was this death?

Tubbo could hear and feel everything but it was extremely muffled. It was like he was about to wake up but his body wouldn’t let him. His mind was awake but his body was asleep. While in this state there was no concept of time. It could have been an hour or a whole day and he would have known no better.

A gentle touch caught his attention, two hands were cupping one of his. There was a feeling of cold metal against his wrist/arm, and when they moved he could hear a slight jingle. A little later, a hand touched his face lightly before someone started talking. They seemed to be listing something off before the hand was gone, leaving cold air in its place. It was nice for the time being, giving him some sense of comfort, that he wasn’t alone. 

Tubbo drifted between sleep and wakefulness before finally coming to. He woke to someone in a white doctor's coat sticking an IV line back into his arm. He threw a punch at them before they could stick him with the needle and tore out the other lines and cords attached to him. The monitor flatlined as it disconnected, the other cords hung down and hit against the edge of the bed making light tingling sounds. The doctor came at him before Tubbo could get out of bed, yelling for help. A punch was laid into his face, stunning him for a second, after all, he had just woken up and was still weak. 

He was easily pinned down as the room was flooded with people, “NO! STOP! LET ME GO! WHERE AM I? GET OFF. WHERE ARE MY FRIENDS?” Tubbo thrashed against their hands. Within 2 minutes he was unable to move his limbs and watched as they reattached him to the machines. Then 2 minutes after that he was dragged into the darkness again. The whole altercation lasted about 5 minutes from him punching the doctor to being sedated again.

Chapter Text

“Do you know you have 30 minutes?”

“Fuck off.”

“Oooo, someone's in a bad mood.”

“Am I really?” he placed a hand against his chest, “I didn’t know that, thanks for telling me about my own mood.”

“Are you always this delightful?”

“Only when I am around you.”

“You wound me.”

“No, I tolerate you for free, bitch.”

To say Tommy was done with Wilbur’s shit was an understatement. If he could, he would have already dumped the guy's drink on him, but according to Bad, that’s unprofessional and morally wrong. But y’know anyone could do it to him and he would have to stand there and not do anything. In his eyes that’s morally wrong but since he would prefer to keep his job he has to refrain from dumping the drink over Wilburs head. 

“Here I thought you enjoyed my company and missed me :(.“

“Nope, you don’t get to pull type frowning out now and distract me, fuck you.”

“Moving on from the hurtful insults. How was your night?” Wilbur took the high road and steered the conversation to a more productive one. 

“It was relaxing and peaceful besides almost falling off a roof,” Tommy waved Wilburs' concerned look off, “Got to meet some interesting people. So Wilbur care to tell me how you know Las Nevadas?”

“They actually showed up to meet with you! That’s great what did you learn about your roommates,” Wilbur dodged the question.

Tommy looked around, making sure that the few people who were in the cafe weren’t paying attention or had earbuds in. Wilbur was leaning against the counter like he normally does, sitting on a barstool to talk to Tommy. 

“I learned that the Ace guy wants to sell my friends. Also when they are meeting to do the exchange,” Tommy used his hands to make air quotes around exchange, “Not that I can really do anything if these people are as high class as he makes them seem. So the chances of seeing my friends again are extremely low.” 

“So you’re telling me that the leader of Las Nevadas met you here last night to talk about the return of your friends. Tommy, you're actually insane.”

Tommy huffed and crossed his arms, “So what I want my friends. My life hasn’t really been one of sanity. And you're one to talk if you know about them and your dad works for them too.” 

“I never said he works for them only with them, and that’s on extremely rare occasions.” 

“So what exactly does your family do for work.”

Wilbur looked over his shoulder and then gestured for Tommy to get closer before whispering, “My dad and brother are villains and we run the syndicate.”

“Haha very funny. And what would that make you? Siren? Thats a good joke had me for a minute. Now actually, what do they do?” Tommy let out a fake laugh. There was no way that Wilbur's dad was Zephyrus, and Techno was Blade. Much less Wilbur being Siren that seemed even more unlikely. Sure he could see Techno as Blade but the odds were so low. Not to mention that no villain would just flat out admit that to a barista.

Wilbur laughed and ruffled Tommy’s hair, “I am deeply offended that you just said that! I could be Siren!”

“Sure and my parents are alive,” Tommy smirked and batted Wilburs hand away as he spoke.

“Tommy-,” Wilbur paused his laughter, hand still in the air.

“What I thought we were taking turns saying impossible things,” Tommy laughed.

“Tommy, nooo,” Wilbur was trying to hold in a laugh.

It was the first time Tommy actually laughed since his friends were taken and it felt like a weight had lifted from his shoulders, but once he realized that the weight came back. He pondered asking again what Wilburs' family did for work again but it didn’t really matter.

They went back and forth a few more times, settling down after getting a few dirty looks from the other people in the shop. Tommy didn’t really care since he was the worker and they could go somewhere else. The bell to the door rang, and Tommy paused his conversation to greet them, taking a few steps to the register.

His foot was still in the air when he paused to see who had just walked in. It was Dream in his full attire. If the cafe wasn’t quiet before it was now. Since when was Dream in this district during the day. Hell Dream wasn’t even in it during the night except to be an asshole to the vigilantes or villains. 

“Oh, hello, what can I get for you, sir?” Tommy tacked to the end of his question. While he wasn’t going to play too heavy into the fan bit and more into respectful worker.

“Can I get an iced chai to go,” Dream's voice was scratchy with the voice changer.

“Sure! You can take a seat if you would like or stand if you prefer.” 

Dream nodded and went and sat in a booth to wait for his order. He pulled out his phone and started typing on it, probably doing hero shit, Tommy assumed. He started to make the drink and tossed an ice cube at Wilbur for fun.

Wilbur looked up and threw the ice back at Tommy hitting him in the chest before looking around and spotting Dream. The look on Wilbur's face reminds Tommy of someone going through the five stages of grief in a few seconds before returning to normal.

Tommy raised an eyebrow at Wilbur before calling out Dream's drink and handing it to him. The minute Dream was out the door Wilbur went on a rant about how he dislikes him. Tommy wasn’t really listening to him but thinking about how he would save his friends. Wilbur rambled on until he got a text from his boss telling him that he had to come in to work and made a hasty leave. 

—----

When Tommy walked into his cold, lonely apartment, he just felt sadness. He walked around flipping the kitchen light on. Took a step forward and greeted the kitchen tiles. Grumbling he sat up trying to figure out what he slipped on. A sheet of notebook paper was crumpled a inch or two away from his foot. The back of the paper had a clear shoe print on it. 

Immediately suspicious since yknow he lives alone now. Tommy flipped the sheet over and there's a hand written note on it. The handwriting is both sloppy and poorly done, but still eligible. It said we can help with your situation. Call us. Then there was a number below that, then a dash S. 

He sat on the kitchen floor rereading the note multiple times, trying to figure out how they knew. Fuck, Ace probably reached out and told them. But how would Ace know that he knows the Syndicate? The only other person would be Wilbur. Which doesn’t make sense other than his family having connections with Ace. Then again, Wilbur did manage to basically get Tommy a meeting with Ace. 

Not to mention the joke that Wilbur made earlier about being Siren, was that really a joke? All the odd times his boss called him in or the random injuries. Even the first time he met Wilbur, the guy scampered off to who knows where, and then there was a fight right by the cafe. 

Thinking back on it Techno had the same hair as Blade, and the build. It would also explain his hatred towards Dream. Or why, when he first healed Siren all those months ago, he looked startled to see Tommy. Everything was falling into place. The only confirmation he needed was to see Wilbur's writing. 

Did he even want to find out? Everything would change, would it though? Either Wilbur or Siren, it’s the same guy. Just like how Tubbo and Ranboo are Nuke and Ender. They are all just human in the end both fighting for what they want and believe in. Tommy wished he could stay ignorant about everything, but now that he sees it, he can’t unsee it. Ever heard of ignorance is bliss?

With shaky hands Tommy pulls up a photo of Wilbur that they had took a little bit ago and started to edit it. He drew on a blue blind fold and then a few small details of Siren's outfit over Wilbur. He looked identical. So Wilbur was Siren, and that probably meant that Techno was Blade, and then maybe Phil is Zephyrus. Which makes it also safe to assume that Quackity has connections to Las Nevadas due to his hat, and Karl and Sapnap know.

He groaned, running a hand down his face. How are people so blind? How was he so blind to the fact that Wilbur and his family are villains! Techno literally has the same hair as Blade! The villains he heals constantly because they can’t go a night without injuring themselves. It was so obvious now, all the random injuries, exhustion, Wilburs reaction to Dream earlier. Ofcourse he was the guy basically killed him.

Wilbur was just using him wasn’t he? Never actually cared about Tommy, no one ever does. Even Ranboo and Tubbo put each other above Tommy; he is just a third wheel. 

Tommy sat in his kitchen, letter in his left hand and phone in his right, photo still pulled up. Contemplating his life and how many people are or could be vigilantes, villains, heroes, and criminals. Wilbur been faking their whole friendship just to get closer to Tommy because of his healing. No, he wouldn’t do that, but how well did he really know Wilbur? He revealed his power in the first few minutes of meeting him. 

But all he had to do was call the number and the chances of getting his friends back increased greatly but his phone felt like lead in his hand. His hand was still shaking as he dialed the number. On the third ring it was answered with a gruff what. That made Tommy want to hang up then and there and maybe call back later.

“Is it a bad time, I can call back later,” Tommy gave them an option to do this at a better time.

“Well, you called now rather than later, what do you need?” The low voice said. It was either Blade or Zephyrus. Why couldn’t it have been Siren?

“Umm, you guys left a letter in my apartment with this phone number. I need help intercepting a deal between Ace and an unknown buyer.” Tommy said getting to the point to not take up as much time. 

“I don’t know what letter your talking about. Why would we help you with that? It has nothing to do with us and I don’t feel like having to talk to Ace again anytime soon.”

Definitely Blade well Techno, he's talking to, “They kidnapped my friends. Ace already gave me permission to intercept it. It just has to be after the exchange is made and Ace or his men depart.”

“You’ve already talked to Ace? When he was the one to kidnap them?”

“Yes, I did. He was symathetic about the whole thing and actually wants me to save them. I just can’t do it by myself, otherwise I would,” Tommy felt proud that he was able to talk to Ace and hoped it gave him a little bit more credit. If not he could always threaten his healing but he didn’t want to do that. 

“Hmmm, do you have any idea on the other party involved? When is this happening?”

“No clue about the other party, big man. My best guess would be either a black market buyer or heroes. The meeting is tomorrow at 12a.m.”

“I will talk to the other two and get back to you tomorrow morning,” Was the only response that Tommy got back before the line went dead as the call hung up. 

Tommy peeled himself up off the kitchen floor before heading to the bathroom to get ready for bed. Once done with that he promptly face planted into the mattress exhausted form the day and the revelations he made. He didn’t have the mental capacity to be dealing with this now.